Be aware! Don’t answer that call!

“There is no good reason to give your personal information over the phone,” Robin Mizell, with the Arkansas Attorney General’s office said.

“Any time anyone asks you for personal information over the phone, that’s a huge red flag. You just cannot trust who’s calling you these days,” she said.

There is no reason to give personal number over the phone,” Mizell said.

“Don’t answer the phone unless you recognize the number,” she said, relating that her grandparents will not use caller identification and she understands that is a problem for some seniors.

The more you talk to them, Mizell said, the more the scammers will attempt to get information.

Sharing that she knows seniors, like her grandparents, are trusting, reliable and community minded are especially vulnerable to scammers.

“Scammers know that Arkansans, particularly seniors, have big hearts,” Mizell said.

Seniors, typically hard workers, frugal savers and generous, are specifically targeted by scammers, many of whom are out of the country. Scammers pretending to be with a government agency take advantage of people who are law abiding and respect the government.

Mayor Jackie Crabtree, in opening the meeting, said: “Just don’t answer the phone if you don’t know the number. Hang up!”

Scammers use a spoofing technology that make out of the country calls look like a local number.

“You may not feel like anybody cares, but we do,” Mizell said She said the governor signed a bill into law making scamming a felony and putting the onus to block scams on the telephone companies. Because of the nature of the scams, it is difficult, if not impossible to prosecute.

“These people aren’t trying to help us, they’re trying to wreak havoc,” Mizell said, emphasizing not to trust someone who calls to “help” with a computer.

Phone tips Mizell shared include:

• Hang up. Do not say yes or press buttons

• Consider blocking and apps(s). Check with phone provider ftc.gov/calls

• Report — ftc.gov/complaint

• Register — DoNoCall. gov or 888-382-1222

She said the do not call list won’t help with scammers who do not respect US laws but they do help with robo-marketing.

TIMES photograph by Annette Beard A representative from the Attorney General’s Office speaks to more than 50 seniors at the Lunch and Learn hosted by Pea Ridge Police and SALT Tuesday, March 3.