How do I stop getting scam likely calls
The most of phone calls I get are not from friends, family, or colleagues. No, they’re from fraudsters and telemarketers informing me that I’ve “win the lotto” or posing as the IRS and demanding me to pay up.
It’s why I don’t pick up phone numbers I don’t recognize, even if they’re necessary, since I’m traumatized by the sheer volume of spam calls I get every day.
According to YouMail, a business that specializes in preventing them, Americans are estimated to receive over 52 billion robocalls this year alone, which equates to nearly 1 billion calls every week.
And these calls come in a variety of sizes and forms. You’re probably aware with the good ol’ “scam likely” calls, but there are also more sophisticated attempts that include spoofing local numbers and those of well-known firms in order to persuade you to give up your personal information and money. These assaults have lately shifted to SMS, where you may get phishing text messages from your own phone number.
Whatever the calls say, one thing is certain: they must stop.
The Federal Communications Commission attempted to address the robocall issue last year by mandating major cellphone providers to begin adopting Stir/Shaken technology. Stir/Shaken validates all incoming and outgoing calls routed via cellular carriers’ networks. Carriers may limit the quantity of fraudulent or faked calls by validating each call. However, it simply blocks robocalls on one channel; it is not the be-all and end-all. You may continue to get spam calls offering free vacations or bogus warnings that your student loan payment is past due.
More information about Stir/Shaken may be found here. As the FCC continues its fight, stay reading for tips on how to reduce the number of times your phone rings during the day from prospective scammers.
How to Reduce the Number of Annoying Robocalls
There are several simple things you may do to assist prevent robocalls, according to the FCC:
When you answer a call and engage with the audio prompt or push a number, spammers know your phone number is legitimate. They may then sell your phone number to another firm or start targeting it more often.
Google’s Call Screen function possibly went beyond the FCC’s guidelines when it initially debuted by replying and communicating with the robocall on your behalf. Google, on the other hand, updated Call Screen for its Pixel phone portfolio. The function may now recognize and stop robocalls and spam calls before they reach you. Google Assistant will converse with the caller, and if the call is determined to be real, it will direct the call to your phone.
The Silence Unknown Callers feature on Apple’s iPhone allows you to direct calls from numbers not in your Contacts, Mail, or Messages straight to voicemail. Any genuine caller may leave a message. But here’s the catch: we often get critical calls from numbers we don’t save on our phones, such as a doctor’s office or a repairman, so you may miss crucial calls this way. However, if all else fails and you’re desperate to halt robocalls, this is a viable solution.
If you are getting a lot of spam text messages, you may forward them to the number 7726. (which spells “spam”). It will not immediately stop the number from texting you, but it will enable your carrier to investigate where it originated from and put an end to it.
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Check with your wireless service provider
All four main cellphone providers provide some kind of call blocking. Each has a free and a premium tier. To be honest, all robocall-blocking programs should be free. This should not be a means for carriers to profit from us.
Using a different wireless provider? I recommend contacting customer care or checking their website to see whether it provides a comparable service.
Limit the quantity of robocalls by using a third-party app
If your carrier does not provide an app or service to reduce robocalls, or if it does but it is too costly, there are several third-party applications available. You’re looking for an app that works on your smartphone, provides automated call blocking and spam notifications for questionable calls, and allows you to easily report a number if a call gets through.
Hiya is a free app that I’ve been using successfully on Android and iOS for quite some time. It’s powered by the same business that runs AT&T’s ActiveArmor app and Samsung’s built-in call blocking and spam prevention service. Owners of a Samsung Galaxy may activate the built-in feature in the Phone app by going to Settings > Caller ID and Spam Protection. It is simple to set up and provides a quick method to report a number.
Verizon employs Nomorobo for its Fios customers, but it also offers a phone app. For VoIP users, the service is free; for mobile users, it costs $2 per month. YouMail and RoboKiller are two more providers with comparable features.
The Firewall software, which is only accessible on the iPhone, performs an excellent job of blocking calls. If you need to make a call but don’t want to use your actual phone number, the $4-per-month membership includes limitless single-use phony phone numbers.
Another method is to acquire a free Google Voice phone number that you can use to sign up for stuff instead of handing them your actual number, and then use the block function once the robocalls start rolling in on that Google Voice number. Just keep in mind that since robocallers are continuously spoofing various phone numbers, blocking calls may wind up being a lot of effort.
None of the options listed above are ideal, but they do augment your carrier’s inclusion of technologies currently necessary to detect caller ID spoofing. So, for the time being, you must put in some additional effort to reduce the quantity of robocalls you get. You may decrease the quantity of unwanted calls and spam you get by being vigilant about calls from unfamiliar numbers and utilizing a service (paid or free).
To summarize, carriers have begun employing Stir/Shaken technology to authenticate callers, which has not appreciably reduced the amount of robocalls we all get. So, if you have an iPhone, learn how to block unknown callers, but keep in mind that doing so may result in missed calls from doctors’ offices and the like. And for those who own a Pixel phone, Google’s Call Screen function will undoubtedly be useful, if not entertaining.
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