Study Shows Tampa Is Highly Targeted For Phone Scams
A recent study shows that Tampa is a highly targeted city for phone scams. Does your phone blow up all day from unwanted calls? It seems like I’m constantly dodging…
CUPERTINO, CA – SEPTEMBER 12: The new iPhone X is displayed during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on the Apple Park campus on September 12, 2017…
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)A recent study shows that Tampa is a highly targeted city for phone scams. Does your phone blow up all day from unwanted calls? It seems like I'm constantly dodging calls labeled "Scam Likely." Well apparently I'm not alone. Allaboutcookies.org recently conducted a study that showed certain cities are bigger targets for telemarketing and phone scams.
Not only are spam calls super annoying, but they can also be very dangerous. Scammers often present a false scenario in order to receive money. One of the most common scams is pretending to be a member of the IRS threatening legal consequences if a given amount isn't paid. Telephone scams jeopardize important personal information and are very costly and time-consuming to resolve for victims. All About Cookies analyzed call data from YouMail, which operates patented apps that answer and block unwanted calls. Then, for each city they determined the number of unwanted calls.
What did they find?
- Telephone scams account for more than 60% of all unwanted calls received by Americans.
- Atlanta experienced the highest overall volume of unwanted phone calls, with an average of 45 calls per week.
- Between telemarketers and scam attempts, Americans received over 30 billion unwanted calls from January 2021 to September 2022.
- More than 18 billion, or 60.4%, of the unwanted calls Americans received were scams.
Here are the top 10 cities that are highly targeted for phone scams
- Atlanta, Georgia - 45 unwanted calls per week
- Baltimore, Maryland - 18 unwanted calls per week
- Tampa, Florida - 17 unwanted calls per week
- Dallas, Texas - 16.5 unwanted calls per week
- Miami, Florida - 14 unwanted calls per week
- Cleveland, Ohio - 12.4 unwanted calls per week
- New Orleans, Louisiana - 11.9 unwanted calls per week
- Detroit, Michigan - 11.3 unwanted calls per week
- Raleigh, North Carolina - 10 unwanted calls per week
- San Francisco, California - 11 unwanted calls per week
Obviously the safest way to avoid getting scammed over the phone is to not answer unknown numbers. If you unknowingly answer a spam call, avoid revealing any personally identifiable information. It's also smart to review your bills, bank statements, and credit reports to make sure your identity hasn't been stolen!
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
This weekend we checked out Hotbins in Tampa, a new Amazon return bin store. Here's just some of the crazy and useful things we found. Just across the street from Busch Gardens is a new shopping experience for Tampa. Hotbins is an Amazon return bin store that has so much to offer. Not only will you find overstock, liquidated and amazon returns, but you'll also find goods from Walmart, Target, Khols and more. It's kind of a crazy experience, each day the store is almost always a madhouse for these crazy deals.
How does it work? The store opens Friday with a new shipment of goods, each day that week the price goes down in hope to sell out that shipment. The price breakdown goes like this:
Friday: $12
Saturday: $10
Sunday: $8
Monday: $6
Tuesday: $4
Wednesday: $2
Thursday: Closed for restocking to start again on Friday.
Everything is boxed and placed in large bins to comb through. Some boxes are labeled with the product/description, and some boxes are completely blank. The good news is that you don't have to guess what's in the box. Take it over to their unboxing area where an employee will be happy to show you what's inside before you buy!
We drove past the store on a Friday and saw a line wrapped around the building. Instead, we went back the next day on Saturday where everything was $10. It was kind of a mad house, but definitely not as crowded as new stock days. It takes some time to dig through everything, so make sure you don't have any time restraints when shopping. We found a bunch of useful home items, workout gear, clothes, wigs, pool floats, and a bunch of unmarked boxes left up to mystery. We ended up buying a rice cooker for only $10. After some research, we found that the rice cooker was selling for $30 on Amazon, so that's a pretty sweet deal.
Check out all of the other crazy things we found at Hotbins in Tampa. Click here for more information about Hotbins.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIThis was the line wrapped around the building on Friday!
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIRules/guidelines of the store when you walk in.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIPrice breakdown of each day.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGINow to the goods! We found multiple luminated picture frames
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In TampaFor anyone who needs to spruce up their lawn.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGINeed a new pool float?
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIThis is a box labeled "Bowls." Keep in mind you can always take it to the unboxing station to see what they look like.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIThis box was left to mystery! Just an example of you never know what you're going to find.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIThis would make a great stocking stuffer for any handyman!
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGINeat ice cube tray for homemade cocktails.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIPretty handy shelf brackets
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGISuper useful for any pet parent! Normally $15 or more on Amazon (depending on the brand)
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIWireless transmitter for Bluetooth! These can go for $30 on Amazon.
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIA sweet rice cooker for $10? Yes please!
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGIWanna know what's in the box?
11 Useful Things We Found At Hotbins In Tampa
BBGI
