What are telephone scams?

Most telephone scams use fake prizes, offers and products to hook a person, while the scammer on the other end doesn't give the victim enough time to think about what's going on, states the Federal Trade Commission. Most scams claim to specially select victims or they continuously ask for trust.

The most common phone scams include offers for free or discount vacations, free trial offers for products, or requests for disaster relief from fake charitable organizations, states the FTC. Other scams ask for investment capital for fake businesses, while others claim that the victim has won a lottery in a foreign country.