evidence: Once scammers have your number, they can use it for a variety of harmful activities. Most of these boil down to the victim losing money. In 2023, scams cost people $10 billion, with phone call scams causing the highest losses per person. [...] Don’t pick up if you receive a call from an unknown or unfamiliar number. If a criminal can’t reach their victim, there’s a good chance their phone scam won’t get very far. In addition, don’t return any missed calls from new numbers — especially if your phone rings once and then disconnects. These are known as one-ring phone scams and are designed to lure you into calling back a number that charges exorbitant fees.