As the world continues to move towards a more digital age, phone scams are becoming increasingly common. Scammers are developing a variety of convincing tactics to persuade us into providing sensitive information.

A common target for these scams is unfortunately seniors. Many of these financial scams involve Medicare and health insurance. Others include counterfeit prescription drugs, funeral and cemetery scams, and false sweepstakes and lottery winnings.

Tax scams have also grown in popularity in the past year. The caller will often claim to be an IRS employee, sometimes even spoofing their phone number, so that their Caller ID makes it appear like the IRS is calling. Victims of these calls are told that they owe money and must pay promptly through avenues like wire transfer. There are cases where the caller will escalate in hostility, threatening arrest and even deportation.

As a result, there’s a heightened sense of importance that to learn about precautions that can be taken to protect ourselves and our families from falling victim to these all too common scams.

To avoid falling victim of a phone scam, here are some best practices to think about and implement:

Do not call back a suspicious number: Anyone that has important information for you will relay it to you through a voicemail message.

Never provide sensitive or personal information: A good rule of thumb is to never provide sensitive personal information over the phone. This includes credit card number or social security number, even if it’s a business or organization you’re familiar with. No one from the IRS or Federal Government will call you for money.

Research: If something feels off about the call, do a little digging and perform a reverse phone lookup. It’s also not unreasonable to ask the caller for their information. This includes their name, business, street address, or business license number. This information is easily verifiable through an online background check to ensure that the caller is who they claim to be.

Report suspicious numbers: While this may not stop the scam indefinitely, it can help others from falling victim. You can file a report with the FCC directly. Companies like Whitepages offers individuals the ability to report scam phone numbers as well.

It’s unlikely that phone scams are disappearing any time soon. By sharing these tips with friends and family members, this will help spread awareness of these phone scams and protect more individuals from becoming the next victim of fraud.