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Spam calls from US

Frank888
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

I'm getting a ton of spam calls from the US. Everyday, at least once from a new random US city. It's never the same number so no way to block. Then they leave a 5 minute message of nothing. Anyone else?
Hey Fido, what are you doing to curb or stop this?

1 REPLY 1

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello Frank888,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  I can understand the frustration. I think everyone is rather fed up about getting SPAM and SCAM calls from spoofed numbers. Unfortunately, there currently isn't much that any of the mobile providers can do to prevent them. Since the spammers/scammers use spoofed numbers, it is not possible to identify the true spammers' number. The numbers shown on caller ID do not belong to the spammers. They often belong to innocent, unsuspecting people. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done to prevent numbers from being spoofed. In some instances, the spammers/scammers will use the recipients' own phone numbers to make the calls. Even the RCMP are not immune to being spoofed (see here). 

 

  The mobile providers have implemented Universal Call Blocking which is meant to block calls from malformed phone numbers. That said, I'm doubtful whether it will have much of an effect on the amount of SPAM or SCAM calls since many of them appear to have properly formed phone numbers. In addition, a new technology, STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens) is being adopted to further reduce the amount of nuisance calls (see here). However, I have my doubts as to whether those measures will reduce the amount of SPAM calls. My understanding is the STIR/SHAKEN will only identify possible SPAM calls and mark the calls as suspected SPAM.

 

  Unfortunately, until the technology to unmask the true number of spammers/scammers is readily available (not simply the number shown on the caller ID), the only solution currently is to block the numbers on your phone.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers