Nobody likes spam calls. There's nothing more unhelpful than being interrupted in the middle of dinner only to hear a car insurance quote, a useless survey, or ten seconds of dead air. It seems like an inevitable part of owning a phone, but in reality, you don't have to stand by and let a “Probable Scam” ruin your day.
The good news is that you don't have to just accept these breaks as a fact of life. You can actually disable them with one surprisingly simple solution. Imagine never having to deal with a mystery number again; This is the type of digital world that everyone has dreamed of since the first telephone salesman picked up a headset.
We have precise information on how to get rid of these calls once and for all. If you're ready to stop being the target of every auto-dialer scammer, here's one step you need to take to get your phone back.
More details here: Five signs your information is on the dark web And seven tips to protect your phone.
The number of scam calls can't be that high, can it?
It sounds like I'm being overly dramatic, but everyone I know deals with scam calls. This is not just an anecdote: Voice Security Company Hello there are numbers to prove it.
Based on analysis of 221 billion phone calls made in 2023 According to Hiya, based on surveys of thousands of people, U.S. consumers received an average of eight spam calls per week. Among those who reported fraud, the average amount of money lost was $2,257, up 527% from the previous year.
Money grab schemes are not the only problem. AI is being used to impersonate influencers in appeals to influence behavior. In this US election year Federal Communications Commission already robocalls using artificial intelligence are prohibited following an incident in which a Texas company created a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden urging Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary; That FCC proposed $6 million fine for the incident.
So what is being done to reduce the number of fraudulent calls?
In 2021, the US Federal Communications Commission ruled that a technology called Stir/Shake be accepted by all major voice providers in the US. They are required to check where calls are coming from to accurately identify them to caller ID. Congress also passed legislation aimed at requiring carriers to track their efforts to combat robocalls..
In December 2023 The Federal Communications Commission has adopted new rules. to strengthen existing policies by making it more difficult for telemarketers to send unsolicited calls and text messages to consumers.
The problem is that these technologies and policies designed to prevent fraudulent calls are not adequate.
Margo Saunderssenior legal adviser National Consumer Law Centerconfirmed this fact. “We have argued for some time that Stir/Shaken does not work to provide accurate caller ID (which is all it is intended to do) because voice service providers can lease thousands of phone numbers to telemarketers and scammers, allowing callers to technically match Stir/Shaken without revealing meaningful or accurate caller ID,” Saunders said. “The number of unwanted calls is about the same as it has been for many years.”
While Saunders believes the FCC's December 2023 changes will have a big impact on telemarketing call volumes, “it won't go into effect until early 2025, and it will take some time for the lawsuit to have a positive impact,” she said. “The majority of telemarketing calls are made on behalf of US corporations, and only the threat of costly litigation can reduce the number of these calls.”
You know what this leads to with unwanted calls.
You can do whatever you want to try to reduce the number of spam callsfrom installing third-party call screening apps to activating fraud blocking services offered by your phone manufacturer or wireless carriers—some of which require additional fees, making this “solution” even more painful.
FCC takes a different approach to combating spam calls. It's more about what you shouldn't do and less about what fraud blocking services can do.
- Don't assume that a calling number that appears with a local prefix is actually from your region.
- Do not answer a caller or recorder who asks you to press a button or answer questions. Don't answer”Yes“
- Never trust a person from an unknown number who claims to represent a company or government agency. Hang up and call a public number to ensure the request is legitimate. The IRS, for example, stated that it typically contacts taxpayers via regular mail rather than a phone call or text message.
Don't answer the phone. That's it. This is the answer.
How do you know if a call is suspicious? It's easy: let's assume that they are all like that.
If the caller ID doesn't identify the person in your phone's contact list or you don't recognize the number (anyone remember phone numbers yet?), assume the caller is a scammer.
Simply answering a suspicious call with “Hello” can open the floodgates to more scam calls because it tells the scammer that there is a person behind your number and, more importantly, that that person is answering their phone calls. The number can then be sold to other companies.
I know this is a nihilistic approach to phone calls. The number of robocalls is so high that an incoming call is likely to be spam. As I said before, scammers have ruined phone calls.
Send calls to voicemail
So the solution is to just ignore every call? How about getting a call back from your doctor's office to schedule an exam? Do you need to add all the phone numbers and extensions they use to your contacts? What if a friend's phone battery runs out and he calls you from someone else's phone and offers you a ride? Will important calls go unattended?
In the telephone darkness there is a narrow beam of light. Unless the call is from someone you know, let it go straight to voicemail. The best way is to let it ring, because even actively call rejection may be enough to alert scammers that they have a valid number. On iPhone and Android, press the Sleep/Wake button once to end the call on your end—the caller will continue to hear calls until the call is automatically sent to voicemail.
With voicemail on most phones, you can see a list of messages waiting, often with a rough voice transcription for each one. At a glance, I can tell that unknown callers leaving 4-second messages are likely scammers, and anything longer than that I can view without listening to the entire message.
You can even bypass call interruption. On iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Mute unknown callers and turn it on Mute unknown callers switch. Anyone who isn't in your Contacts, Outgoing Calls list, or Siri Suggestions goes to voicemail without calling your phone. Android phones have a similar feature called Filtering spam calls located in the Phone app settings or Call screen function depending on the device.
On some devices, you can also monitor a call without answering it. With Apple Live Voicemail in iOS 17 and later, ignore an incoming call, then tap Voicemail button on the lock screen if the caller does not hang up. While they leave their message, iOS transcribes it in real time, and you can barge in and talk to the person if you need to take a call.
Live Voicemail is a great new call screening tool for iPhone.
On Android Google Call Screen uses Google Assistant to answer the call, interact with the caller, and create a real-time transcript. IN Google I/O 2024the company demonstrated a next-generation version of this feature based on Gemini Artificial Intelligence Tool listen to the current call and display pop-up alerts if it is a fraudulent call.
Google's new feature can alert phone callers if a certain caller is trying to scam them out of money.
However, these features are unlikely to significantly affect the overall problem. “We believe these tools are not useful for several reasons,” Saunders said, noting that only knowledgeable and cautious consumers are likely to use them, and that the privacy implications of this type of real-time monitoring are potentially enormous.
“The best way to stop illegal calls,” Saunders said, “is to punish the providers who create and transmit them. This has been addressed to the Federal Communications Commission multiple times.”
Seriously, stop answering your calls.
Look, I want to believe that there is a technical way out of this mess. Some conversations are actually better done over the phone, without the risk of misunderstandings over text messages or having to look half-human on a video call. While scam calls attract people with benefits, scammers will also improve their methods (for example, creating artificial intelligence voices that imitate the voices of a friend or family member).
We can make it harder for scammers by doing the simplest thing.
Just don't answer the phone.
Additional safety tips can be found here. protect your data over Wi-Fi and how remove your data from the Internet.
