The FTC warns of a surge in illegal robocalls falsely claiming to be about loan applications. An expert with Consumers' Checkbook advises hanging up immediately and never pressing any keypad prompts.

It's a tale as old as the first tricky scheme -- whatever that was long before any of us had cellphones. But there are ways to make sure you don't fall victim to one present-day trick.

"According to the Federal Trade Commission, people all across the country are getting calls and calls and calls about their supposed loan application that they haven't applied for," said Herb Weisbaum, a contributing editor with Consumers' Checkbook.

The FTC said people report getting between five and 20 of these urgent-sounding calls every day -- from different phone numbers. Those who respond find out the so-called "loan" is on hold because more information is needed.

Weisbaum said if you receive this type of illegal robocall, the best thing to do is hang up. And if there's an offer to press a number on your keypad to remove yourself from their call list, never respond to that prompt.

"Don't press the number to unsubscribe. They sometimes say if you want to unsubscribe, press the number. The Federal Trade Commission says that only lets the dishonest company know your number is good, and they will keep calling more often," Weisbaum said.

Scammers use urgency and helpfulness as a tactic to get people to respond.

For example, one call received by a WTOP staffer said, "The (loan) approval window is closing soon, and while you could always reapply later, I'd like to help you get it wrapped up now while everything is still in motion."

Weisbaum said a couple of things could happen to those who end up on the phone with such scammers.

"Number one, they can figure out a way to steal your money by trying to get you to give a credit card number or something like that. The other thing is they can steal your personal information and use it for all kinds of identity theft," Weisbaum said.

Hanging up or not interacting with them at all is the best way to avoid their snares, "because they're trained, and they know the longer they keep you on the phone line, the more likely you are to do what they want," he added.

Weisbaum said he's heard people say they turned over their information to a scammer because they just wanted to get off the phone: "No, no, hang up! You don't have to give them information to get off the phone."

A robocall is a call that plays a recorded message, usually trying to sell you something or get you to hand over your personal information, Weisbaum said.

"According to the FTC rules ... it's illegal unless the company has written permission to contact you and try to sell you something. You have to give them specific written permission to do that," he said.

Legal robocalls are allowed for "surveys, purely informational or charitable purchases, political purposes, as long as there's no sales pitch. And it also allows debt collection robocalls if you truly have a debt and that company is trying to collect from you," according to Weisbaum.

But if you tell the debt collector to stop calling you, "The law says they can't call you anymore," Weisbaum said.

"If you haven't given the company permission to call you, and the robocall is not purely informational ... like the cable company's confirming a service, or the dentist says you have an appointment next week -- that call is illegal, and it's probably a scam," he added.

Even if your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry, "the scammers don't care about that, Weisbaum said. "Now, it's important to be on the Do Not Call list. It will reduce the number of calls you get, because all the good retailers will follow the law and not call you. But that does not prevent you from getting an illegal robocall from all the bad guys out there."

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