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Almost Half of US Cellphone Calls Will Be Scams By Next Year, Says Report (cnet.com)
According to a new report from First Orion, nearly half of the mobile phone calls received in the U.S. next year will be scams. "The percentage of scam calls in U.S. mobile traffic increased from 3.7 percent last year to 29.2 percent this year, and it's predicted to rise to 44.6 percent in 2019, First Orion said in a press release Wednesday," reports CNET. From the report: The most popular method scammers use to try to get people to pick up the phone is called "neighborhood spoofing," where they disguise their numbers with a local prefix so people presume the calls are safe to pick up, First Onion said. Third-party call blocking apps may help protect consumers from known scam numbers, but they can't tell if a scammer hijacks someone's number and uses it for scam calls. "Scammers relentlessly inundate mobile phones with increasingly convincing and scary calls," said Gavin Macomber, senior vice president of marketing at First Orion, in an email statement. "Solving a problem of this magnitude requires a comprehensive, in-network carrier solution that dives deeper than third-party applications ever could by detecting and eliminating unwanted and malicious calls before they reach your phone."
I'm glad, it hope it gets worst. I'd say 90% of incoming phone calls I get are scams or telemarketing calls. The worst it gets the more likely the carriers will do something about it. Until then, I'll continue to set my blocking app automatically hang up if they're not in my contact list. I'd be even happier if i could send them to the Jolly Roger phone company with a simple button press.
They don't have to buy blocks of numbers. Just spoof caller ID. It's illegal to do with numbers you don't own, but they're not bothered by that.
How ?
Calling party pays.
This is the way most of the world does it. Spam calls are mostly an American phenomenon.
Other countries have the "one ring scam", where the caller rings once and then hangs up, hoping a foolish person will be curious and call back. But most people do NOT call back, and the call can be traced since you have to disclose your real call back number. Also, phones in some countries have a feature where the second ring is the first audible ring.
Another reform would be to restrict spoofing. You should only be allowed to spoof if you own both numbers. This is another "American problem".
I've got an App called Call Blocker on my phone (android). If anyone calls me and they are not in my address book it goes straight to voicemail. Most of the time, of course, there is no voicemail because the robocall hangs up. If it does happen to be something important the person can leave a message and I'll call them back. The beauty of it is that the phone doesn't even ring.
I gave up on trying to block numbers because it just seemed like a game of whack-a-mole. The scammers would call from a different number next time.
Works for me and it's free.
What on earth are you on about, in Oz, calling party pays. Ive never received a spam call on my mobile. Guess it’s just another way Americans take it up the arse from corporations, they bend over and lube up at light speed.
It's quite common in the UK too.