Scam calls on your home phone: how to recognize them

The phone rings at home. On the line, a rushed voice: a loved one has had an accident, needs money right away, and above all, you must not tell anyone. This scenario is a classic phone scam, and it often targets landlines, and so often older people. With the holidays coming, when families talk more, it is a good time to review the signs of a scam and the right reflexes.

The most common scam calls

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre describes several phone scams. Two come up often:

• The “emergency” or grandparent scam. An older person receives, often on their landline, a call from someone pretending to be their grandchild, or calling on their behalf (a “lawyer”, a “police officer”). The caller asks for money quickly: bail, lawyer’s fees or hospital fees.
• The fake official call. The caller claims to speak for an agency, a bank or a company you know, and asks for personal information or a payment.

The Anti-Fraud Centre points out something important: in Canada, nobody is released in exchange for bail paid in cash or cryptocurrency. A request like that is a sign of fraud.

The signs that should alert you

• Urgency. You are asked to act right now, without taking time to think or to talk about it.
• Secrecy. “Don’t tell my parents”: the scammer wants to stop you from checking.
• The payment method. Cash handed to a “courier”, gift cards, cryptocurrency, a transfer to a stranger.
• Personal information. Social insurance number, card number, password: never give them to someone who called you.
• A number that looks legitimate. The name and number displayed can be faked: this is called spoofing.

Caller ID is not enough: spoofing

Scammers can display a fake number, sometimes the number of a real agency. On November 30, 2021, the CRTC announced that telecommunications providers had to verify whether the caller’s identity can be trusted for calls made over the Internet (the STIR/SHAKEN standard). The CRTC notes, however, that not all calls can be verified, especially those that do not travel entirely over an IP network, and that the way this is displayed varies from one provider to another.

The result: caller ID remains very useful to know who is calling, but a familiar number is not proof. When a call asks you for money or information, you are the one who does the checking.

What to do during a suspicious call

1. Hang up. You are not being rude: you are protecting yourself.
2. Call the person back yourself, at the number you already know, not the one the caller gave you.
3. If the caller says they are a police officer, hang up and call your local police service at a trusted number.
4. Pay nothing and give no information until you have checked.
5. Talk about it with someone close to you before making a decision.

Protect your parents before the holidays

Use a visit to talk about it simply with your parents or grandparents. Agree on a rule together: if an urgent call asks for money, hang up and call a family member back. Some families even choose a password that only they know.

On a home phone line, a few features help every day:

• Caller ID, so you don’t have to answer an unknown number;
• Voicemail: let an unknown call go to voicemail, a real loved one will leave their name;
• Do not disturb, so you are not woken up by calls at unusual hours.

At Club Internet, these features are included with the home phone line, along with the line’s other features. To learn how a landline over the Internet works, read our article on the home phone.

Fewer telemarketing calls: the National List

The National Do Not Call List is free. You can register a home, cell phone or VoIP number, at 1-866-580-3625 or on the List’s website. Telemarketers then have 31 days to stop calling you. Note: the List reduces legitimate telemarketing, it does not stop scammers, who don’t follow the rules.

Where to report a scam call

If you have lost money, first contact your local police service as soon as possible. Whether you are a victim or simply a witness, also report the call to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: online, or by phone at 1-888-495-8501, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. (Eastern Time). Every report helps identify the scams going around.

A call claims to come from Club Internet and seems suspicious? Hang up and call us back at 1 833 541-2582.

A home phone, with peace of mind

Our home phone service starts at $9.99 per month, with unlimited calling anywhere in Canada, no contract. You can keep your current number. To get started, check your address or place your order online.

Sources: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, “Emergency scam” and “Report fraud” pages; CRTC, news release of November 30, 2021 on caller identification (STIR/SHAKEN); National Do Not Call List, lnnte-dncl.gc.ca (consulted November 12, 2026).