Has this been happening to you? The phone rings, you pick it up, say "hello," but there's no one on the other line. It's a new type of robocall — an automated computer system making tens of thousands of calls to "build a list of humans to target for theft," according to the Financial Fraud Research Center. It's the first step in opening you up to many of the phone-based scams discussed in this article.
Your Plan If you haven't already done so, ask your phone company to put caller ID on your landline. Then simply screen your calls, and don't pick up if the number is unfamiliar.