The rise of complaints from consumers and businesses alike about the barrage of robocalls has reached a feverish pitch. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission and cell phone carriers across the nation have released the Caller Verified Program.
This reactive measure is to help reduce the number of spam callers and robocalls, as scammers have improved their technical prowess to trick unsuspecting consumers into answering their phones. One technique that often fools people is called “neighborhood spoofing,” in which spam callers are able to match area codes and the first three digits of a target’s phone number. This has become one of the most popular methods employed by spammers.
A phone with a scam call concept.
But it doesn’t stop there. Since it’s the peak of tax filing season, IRS imposter calls, messages threatening jail time, and requests for money in the form of gift cards to settle tax debt will continue right up until the deadline . . . and beyond. And this technique is being drowned out by the uptick of spoof calls allegedly from the Social Security Administration. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission is reporting that half of the reported robocalls to their agency in the last year with scammers representing themselves as the Social Security Administration have come in the last two months alone. These calls have even surpassed the longstanding bogus IRS calls.
There are numerous other scams in play in 2019 that utilize robocall technology; alongside continued efforts to encourage businesses and consumers to register with the Do Not Call Registry list, the FCC and tech experts are hoping increased fines and beefed up programming will begin to alleviate what seems to be a growing problem.
Technology experts are exploring the Signature-Based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR), which use digital certificates and public key cryptography techniques. Together, these protocols—often referred to as STIR/SHAKEN standards—use digital certificates to ensure the incoming call phone number is coming from a real location and device. Operators obtain a digital certificate from a third-party certificate authority, which is then used to ensure that a phone call is originating from a device that is registered to that number.
Industry articles point out that at least three carriers announced they’ll roll out STIR/SHAKEN protocols throughout their networks sometime in 2019.
In the meantime, use Caller ID with caution unless it’s a number you do recognize from a person that you’re expecting a call from. Voicemail is a good screening tool and can save some frustration.
If you’re not sure your carrier is providing the mentioning screening protocols, contact them and continue to report the calls to BBB’s Scam Tracker and the FTC as well.
Sandra Guile is the Public Relations Specialist for BBB. She promotes BBB’s message of marketplace ethics through public speaking engagements, presentations, media relations, press releases, web content, and other written materials. Your BBB is located at 1 East 4th Street Suite 600 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 – to reach the office, call (513) 421-3015.
