Beware: New Phone Scams Have New Hampshire on High Alert

Back when we had landlines, there were telemarketers scanning the world of AT&T to find someone who would buy their propaganda.  It worked, as many gave out credit card numbers and bank account information by the millions.

Fast forward to today, with cell phones in everyone's pocket and landlines a thing of the past for much of the population. Area codes 603, 207, and 978 are increasingly targeted, as Northern New England gets poked quite a bit by these hoaxes.

With new technology comes new scams, and cell phones seam to be ripe with every kind of marketer and scammer.  I don't mind the marketing texts, which I sometimes opt in for.  But the number of scams via text messages has increased dramatically in the past five years.

Within the past month, I've received text from all types of sources like "my bank", "my credit card", and even just a "hello" with a smiley face, like that person is an old friend of mine.   They are not.

These are real texts to my local phone, and all are scams you should watch out for.

If there are too many z's or x's in the text, you can bet it's from a country far away. Remember, many schemes are from other countries, so don't be fooled.

The Amazon and UPS texts around the holidays were popular hoaxes, so watch out for the next holiday around the corner, because that's likely where they'll target next on your phone.  When you see these, delete them.  Don't open them, click on a site, or return the call...ever.

Tired of it? Me too.  Block the caller and then report these as junk.  Be aware.