You answer it. There's a pleasant voice trying to sell you something. If you're tempted by the offer, you'd better get the facts before a potential fraud gets you. Although most phone sales pitches are made on behalf of legitimate organizations offering bona fide products and services, many sales calls are frauds.
Telephone fraud knows no race, ethnic, gender, age, education or income barriers.
Anyone with a phone can be victimized by telemarketing scam artists. Fraudulent telemarketers and sellers may reach you in several ways, but the telephone always plays an important role. The latter refers to lists of consumers who have lost money through fraudulent prize promotions or merchandise sales. These lists contain names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information, such as how much money was spent by people who have responded to telemarketing solicitations. They are invaluable to scam artists who know that consumers who have been deceived once are vulnerable to additional scams.