How to avoid getting scammed

DAVENPORT—It can be an easy trick to fall victim to: A call comes from an unrecognized number. Perhaps this caller is informing someone that they owe money to the bank, or that their child has been arrested and needs bail money over the phone. However, almost always, these calls are not legitimate, and people that give money to these scammers are being duped.

But when one has a landline without caller identification, or can’t tell whether a request for money is legitimate or fake, how can they figure out some telltale signs of a scammer?

Local law enforcement, which sees scam calls come in fre...