How annoying is it when you’re busy and rush to answer your phone, and it’s a robocall? “Spamantha Likely,” as some say. Robocalls are out of control and have become a hot-button topic amongst phone providers. AT&T airs nonstop commercials about them. And I’m guessing most of you have experienced an uptick in robocalls and would like them to stop, too!
According to Wikipedia: A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot (a spam email calling your phone). These spam calls are trying to bait people into scams about things like extended warranties on your car, IRS nonsense, social security fears, etc. It’s just like a phishing email. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, which transmit calls over the internet rather than over wires, has made this easier for scammers to spoof phone numbers. With a VoIP setup, robocalls can tell your phone’s caller ID that the call comes from a different number than it does, which makes these illegal robocalls almost impossible to track down.
So now that we understand what these calls are and why they are happening, how do we stop (or at least slow) them? Well, this is America, so of course, companies will use this as an opportunity to sell you a service. Here are links to tools that cell companies are using:
I don’t think these calls are going away anytime soon, so take extra precautions with unknown callers. Don’t engage with robocalls. Don’t give out personally identifiable information or send money to a third party without verifying the caller’s authenticity. You can double-check the caller’s authenticity by looking up their phone number on their website or in a phone book and calling them directly.