College student gets burdened by debt. And that’s why nowadays they become the easy target of robocalls. More than 11 million student robocalls were held in May 2019. Let’s know more about Student Loan Robocalls
Most loaners get excited over their loan balance. so it becomes easier for frauds to influence them. And scammers are also aware of this and take full advantage of them.
Robocall is a pre-recorded voicemail. Every call starts with a canned message recorded in Chinese. Most of the time these calls are made by frauds creating a trap that will make their victims trust them and click a button to talk live with an administrator. These are computer-generated pre-recorded calls.
Navient Robocalls
The most invasive ones are the Navient robocalls. Who doesn’t know Navient is conjoined of nine companies with the department of education under contract. They manage student loans. But recently the companies are facing distrust from people due to this strategy of them to harass students.
Despite the navigation and making it legal to autodial the calls still, some people got over two thousand Navient robocalls.
Under the lawsuit of the telephone consumer protection act (TCPA) 2000 lawsuits were filed regarding the violation of customer rights, in 2017. most of them were traced to Navient robocalls.
Is It Possible To Spot Student Load Forgiveness Robocall Scam?
Generally, there are many ways to identify these scammers.
Some points you should keep an eye for are-
1. if the company offers to get rid of your loan debt
2. if they ask for an upfront payment
3. offering service of free charge
4. if you suggest you stop your load payment
5. if they ask for personal information like social security number or student id password.
6. if they offer to pay your debt for a certain amount
A few consciousnesses and you might be able to spot them if there frauds or not. The most common signs are:
• Extremely marketing sale behavior
• Dept forgiveness according to law base
• Must pay advance payments
Sales approach
Scammers have the most smooth sales approach by which they can easily awe and convince you. Unrecognizable numbers, demands, spam email- these are the sign you should be aware of being scammers than legal business.
Legal borrowers have student loan forgiveness through events such as total payments or Permanent Disability Discharge. Guidance on these programs is provided by Federal Student Aid. They usually acknowledge borrowers about these aid programs etc.
Legal Claims As a Bad Sign
To make themselves more convincing they often came with a lawsuit-based dept forgiveness offer. They typically take action with calls and emails full of legal gibberish to gain victims’ trust. They might claim that the legal firm can pay off the victim’s dept if the payments are paid to them upfront.
Imposing, a legal assertion could be a reliable sign that you might be dealing with a con man.
Robocalls Not Always Illegal
Some political and charity organizations are allowed legally for these autotune robocalls for their purpose. Telemarketers are also legally allowed if they require specific requirements.
Federal Trading Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allow them robocall permission.
The following requirements need for legal robocalls-
- Calls have to be made between 8 a.m to 9 p.m.
- Identification of the caller has to be given
- You must have to offer to use companies robocall.
- The caller has to have legal approval of yours to autodial you.
Cooperation Without Identification
To legally place an automated call proper identification is a must. Beginning of the call caller has to introduce himself with
- His identity
- Introduce the company and on whose behalf the call is.
Before hanging up caller must mention-
- The company’s contact number
- The company’s address
You Can Decide Who Can Robocall
You have the option of which company can robocall you and as well as can change it whenever you feel like.
Whenever you are dealing with an automated call there must have options to put digits to include your cell number on to do not call list.
If it’s a voicemail then it must have provided you with a toll-free number to call and edit the list of companies’ calls.
Your Written Consent Can Bind Their Hands Down
To legally autodial they have to have your legal consent. Legal consent can come in various forms. Like by the E-SIGN act or electronic signature or an online form.
so anytime you get any scam call you would know they don’t have your consent and are free to file a report against them.
Manually Block Numbers On Your Smartphone
If you get several calls from a specific number you should block that number using a smartphone’s built-in feature.
To block calls, do the following:
- open phone app
- tap three dots on the top right
- go to call settings
- select reject calls
- tap on ‘+’ button
- type the number you want to block.
For iPhone follow the steps:
- Go to the phone app
- Go to recent tabs for your recent phone calls
- Click the ‘i’ symbol on the number you want to block
- Click block the caller.
- Confirm blocking the number
What If You Get a Robocall?
A robocall is much annoying. By following a few guidelines we can deal with these frauds.
Here are some ways to manage it if this comes up to you-
1. Don’t pick calls from unrecognizable numbers. If you answer and the suspicious Robo voice starts, hang up immediately.
2. Even if you know, the number could be a scam. There is a method that scammers use to call. It will show that the call is from your local area. Meanwhile, the call is from a hundred miles away.
3. Don’t click on unknown links or emails. If you are willing to check that information, go on by yourself but not through any links.
4. Don’t share any social media posts Unless you verify that the post on the page is valid.
5. Never give personal information to this kind of call.
6. Set strong passwords everywhere
7. You can register your numbers on FTC’s Do Not Call Registry.
Conclusion
This Chinese robocall is one of the most serious issues that should be reported whenever someone gets these calls. This will help the authority to take action and get to know them better for future investigations.
