New Study Shows Tyler, Texas in the Top 10 of Cities Hit by Phone Scams

We've reported to you about all different kinds of scams being carried out in East Texas. These can be as simple as offering a fake goody bag from Texas Roadhouse to texting about selling property that you don't own. Scammers will use any and every kind of trick to try and steal your money and/or your personal information. A new study was just released that shows how prevalent phone scams are. Sadly, East Texas ended up in the top 10 of this list.

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This study comes from First Orion. Don't feel bad if you don't know a lot about them, I didn't either. The description of their company in their About Us section of their website says,

Ever-evolving since 2008, our mission remains the same – we’re here to provide an exceptional mobile experience and protect consumers from bad actors. To us, the phone is a way to connect. As a leader in mobile communications technology, we take the worry out of picking up your device and deliver confidence in every call.

Cool. Further down in the About Us section, you can read how they started as a company to help those with land lines that were getting inundated with scam calls be able to easily report the calls to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).

What is most likely the subject of the phone scam?

This study looked at the number of phone scams for the first half of 2022. In their report, they found that the top scams so far for 2022 are:

• Vehicle Warranty
• Healthcare
• Social Security
• Medicare
• Health Insurance

Of those being contacted to be scammed, 62 percent were between the ages of 18 to 34 years old, 54 percent between 35 to 54 years old and 45 percent were 55 years old and older. First Orion found that roughly 100 billion scam calls have been made so far in 2022 costing victims about $40 billion.

Where in the U.S. is targeted the most by phone scams?

Here's where East Texas, and Texas in general, comes out bad in this report. Of the top ten cities to be hardest hit by phone scams, Texas has five of ten cities, including Tyler at number seven.

1. San Antonio, Texas
2. Dallas, Texas
3. Fort Worth, Texas
4. Cleveland, Ohio
5. Tulsa, Oklahoma
6. Lubbock, Texas
7. Tyler, Texas
8. Detroit, Michigan
9. Lawton, Oklahoma
10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

No reason was given in the study of why Tyler and rest of these cities were being targeted so much.

Here are three easy steps to help avoid becoming a victim of a phone scam?

• Don't answer unknown numbers
• Don't give any personal information or send a payment
• Do not select the option to be added to their "Do Not Call" list

If you think you've become a victim of a phone scam, you can report it the FTC at ftc.gov.