Vishers (Scammers) will pose as a local bank or other legitimate business that consumers find trustworthy in order to con them into providing their personal information. These scam artists will use “spoofing” to make the number that appears on your caller ID match the number of a trusted establishments If you have received a vishing call claiming to be an employee of your bank, hang-up! Smishing is the text message version of this scam. Generally, smishing text messages will come from a “50000” number and not a regular phone number. The “50000” indicates that the text message was sent from an email and not from another phone. Unfortunately, many of these scams are originated from overseas and there is not a lot that can be done about international scams. However, if you are being harassed by a telemarketing company located in the United States there are laws that will protect you. In some cases, victims of harassment can be entitled to compensation. If you are a California resident being harassed by telemarketers or debt collectors please give my office, The Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman a call at (877) 449-8898 for a free consultation.