Scammers call as a grandchild with a bad crackly phone connection in another country on vacation hoping the victim will believe they are their grandchild who needs to get bailed out of jail. Other scammers call informing the victim they won the sweepstakes or lottery and only need them to pay by credit card or wire money to insure the winnings end up in their back account.

Sometimes the caller will say they are a lawyer from a foreign land and a long lost relative just died and left a large amount of money that desperately needs to get into the victims back account. All that needs to happen is the victim coughs up bank routing numbers and authorizes a cash transfer. And if the phone ever rings and it’s someone telling you they are selling stocks, bonds or gold or can get you a tremendous rate on your mortgage, chances are they are just another scammer trying to separate you from your money.

Amazingly, Alexander Graham Bells little invention has allowed scammers for well over 100 years to use his tool of technology to fleece unsuspecting citizens, and rob them of their personal security. Just like the internet today, people believe that the anonymous person on the other end of the communication is who they say they are.

The naïve and false belief to trust the authoritative figure who informs you that you either stand to gain or lose something based on your compliance is a tried and true method of scammers.

Really, the key to preventing phone scammer: hang up.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures.