I hate robocalls. I got rid on my land line phone because the ONLY people who called me on it were robocallers, fraudsters, and political campaigns (more fraudsters?). Now up to 80% of my cellular phone calls are robocalls. If it seems that there are more robocalls then ever, this is not an illusion. Robocalls have increased 46% from 2017 to 2018, and 2019 looks like the increase will be bigger yet. Over 60 billion with a B robocalls. One in ten Americans are scammed by robocallers. The take by these scam artists? $9.5 billion.
One of my clients was scammed out of $500 when he was called by “Xcel Energy”. At least that is who the Caller ID said was calling. Robocalling relies on Caller ID spoofing, which is why the same calls seem to come from all over the place. Some robocallers spoof local telephone numbers in order to make the call appear local and somehow more trustworthy.
Last year the FCC was promoting Caller ID Authentication under its SHAKEN/STIR anti-robocalling initiative. Supposedly our phone carriers should be authenticating calls come from other phone carriers before they reach our phone. But this is not happening in a reliable way.
Fortunately there are ways to take matters into our own hands, at least in the smart phone world. There are several smartphone apps that can help block robocalls, and we will discuss some of the best below. Other actions you can take to protect yourself are:
- Remember that they called you – If they called you, you have no way to know that they are legitimately who they claim to be. When strangers call you, keep your guard up and don’t believe anything they say.
- Hang up and call back – This can be effective when getting a fraudulent robocall from an electric utility, back, credit card, or other familiar company. Refuse to discuss anything with someone who called you. Hang up and dial the published customer support number to check if there really is an issue with your account.
- Do not answer – When someone calls your smartphone, if they are in your contact list their name usually pops up in the call. Just don’t answer unidentified callers, let the call go to voicemail, then decide whether you want to call back.
- Join the Do Not Call Registry – Frankly I’ve done this and it is not helping much, but robocallers who ignore this list are breaking the law and can be subject to prosecution.
- Do not use gift cards – Scammers want to be paid in an untraceable and irreversible way, and often resort to requiring scratch off gift cards or Western Union cards. An electric utility or the IRS is not going to require a gift card as payment. If someone needs a gift card they are probably a scammer.
- Just say no – Say “no” and stick to your guns. If you are pressured to make an instant decision you are being scammed. Legitimate callers would not be using high-pressure tactics on you. Hang up and call a friend or relative to run the situation past. Often others are better at spotting a scam than we are ourselves.
- Don’t fall for the fake website – This approach is popular in phishing exploits, but pop up in phone scams too. Check the URL in the address box, if it looks unusual, assume it is a fake.
- Do not let them connect to your computer – This tactic is popular in fake tech support calls, but can be used in other ways by other scammers.
- Do not verify personal information – Scammers will often require you to “confirm” you user name and password, social security number, credit card number, bank account number, and other personal information. If they called you, tell them nothing!
And as promised, here is a list of phone apps and other services you can use to block robocallers:
- Cell Phone Carrier Options – These work through your cell phone carrier.
- Verizon Call Filter ($3 per month)
- Sprint Premium Caller ID ($3 per month)
- T-Mobile Name ID ($4 per month)
- AT&T Call Protect –
- Android and iOS
- NoMoRobo – Endorsed by my uncle Ron who has used it for years, this is available for $2 per month after a 14 day free trial.
- Hiya – free if you just want calls flagged, $3 per month ig you want them blocked
- RoboKiller – $3 per month after a 7 day free trial. Also blocks robotexts. Calls identified as robocalls are actually answered by RoboKiller’s own bots.
- iOS Only
- Callblock – Currently IOS only.
- iOS 13 Phones – These new phones will have call blocking features built in.
- Handset Specific
- iOS 13 Phones – These new phones will have call blocking features built in.
- Google Call Screen – Your Google assistant answers your calls, and lets you decide what to do with them. Available on Pixel models currently
- Samsung Smart Call – This is a built-in feature on some Samsung smartphones.
If robocalls are driving you up the wall, we have provided you will several options to help qwell the onslaught while the government and your cell phone carriers get their acts together.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com