One of the most frustrating aspects of owning a phone is receiving consistent scam calls. Some people can’t even go one day without getting one, which can be very annoying. Luckily, this may change soon since more phone companies are pitching in to help stop the crisis. Here are some things that phone companies and service providers are doing to help stop scam calls.
Labeling Numbers as “Likely Scam”
Perhaps you’ve seen a call come in with a label “Likely Scam” or “Potential Spam”. This means that your phone provider has most likely seen this number already on a verified list of scam callers. Otherwise, they have other good reasons to believe the number is related to a scammer.
Since no algorithm is 100% accurate, phones may still send a “Scam Likely” call through just in case it happens to be a real number. That said, if you’re expecting an important call, you should pick it up even if it’s “Scam Likely”, to see whether it’s the call you’re expecting or not. If you’re not expecting a call, just go ahead and ignore any spam calls coming in.
Ensure Calls Are Coming From Real Numbers
Two standards that can help phone providers avoid sending a spoofed phone number through include STIR and SHAKEN. STIR stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited, and SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs. Both of these protocols help verify the caller’s right to use a phone number.
When phone providers implement STIR and SHAKEN standards, they can better determine whether a call comes from a fake number or a real number. You are less likely to see a scam call coming from a phone number registered to the Social Security Administration with these standards.
Crowd-Sourcing Numbers
Some phone companies, like Verizon, crowd-source lists of spam callers. They have a list of around 300 million numbers, which continues to grow as more users report scam and spam calls. This makes it easy for everyone to tell whether a call is a scam or a real call.
Similarly, phone companies can feed these lists of numbers into algorithms to detect spam calls more easily in the future. Overall, crowd-sourcing makes it easier for phone companies to detect spam calls, so you should start reporting them if there’s an option.
Giving Access to Third-Party Apps
If your phone company already directly works with third-party apps, then you have a bit more functionality. However, there are also many third-party apps that you can download on your own to protect yourself from scam calls. Depending on which app you download, you may have access to different lists, which may better detect and block possible scams.
Luckily, the free PeopleFinders mobile app can help you determine whether a call will likely be spam, look people up, and protect yourself more easily across the internet.
Final Thoughts
Smartphone companies, cell phone service providers, and various third-party app developers are working together to keep people safe from scams. We all know how annoying it can be to receive spam calls, which is why professionals are working so hard to try and fix the issue.