TTY stands for Teletypewriter and is a phone service intended to allow the hearing-impaired to communicate via telephone, relying on an operator who relays a typed message from the caller to the business.

By law, the operator is not allowed to disclose the origin of the call. Unfortunately, TTY scams are endless as well. Basically, all the scams that are listed under the Internet menu of our app could be pulled by TTY.

If you are an owner of a business, you are a potential victim. Just a quick example: you own an auto shop. Scammer calls you by TTI and says he heard only good things about your shop, maybe even that you are very good at fixing transmission systems. You like what you hear and ask him how you can help. He says he will have his expensive but broken car shipped to your shop and needs you to fix its transmission system.

A few days later, he calls back saying that the shipping company wouldn’t accept his credit card and he offers to send you a check of, say $2,000, from which you could keep $500 as down payment and $1,500 to pay the shipper yourself.

How to avoid: just as in many other scams, any check you receive with an overpayment is a scam. When it comes to TTY, ask for person’s full name, address, telephone number, the name of the issuing bank and its toll-free customer service number as printed on the back of all credit cards. Also, don’t be afraid to say you’ll call him back after checking with the bank. If he tries to change your mind, just hang up.