Robocalls are annoying, intrusive, and sometimes even dangerous. They can trick you into giving up your personal or financial information, or make you pay for unwanted products or services. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans received nearly 4 billion robocalls per month in 2019. That’s an average of 12 calls per person per month.
Fortunately, you don’t have to put up with these unwanted calls. Your phone carrier can help you identify and avoid robocalls with some simple features. In this article, we will explain how your phone carrier labels incoming robocalls and what you can do to stop them from bothering you.
How Your Phone Carrier Labels Incoming Robocalls
Most major phone carriers have implemented some form of call filtering or screening to help their customers deal with robocalls. They use various methods to analyze the incoming calls and flag the ones that are likely to be spam or scam. They then display a warning message on your caller ID screen to alert you of the potential risk.
Here are some examples of how different phone carriers label incoming robocalls:
- T-Mobile/Metro PCS: “Scam Likely” or “Nuisance Likely”. T-Mobile was one of the first carriers to offer free scam identification to its customers in 2017. It uses a database of known scam numbers and an algorithm that detects suspicious calling patterns to label fraudulent calls as “Scam Likely” or “Nuisance Likely” on your caller ID screen.
- AT&T: “Spam Risk” or “Fraud Risk”. AT&T launched its free spam call identification service in 2019. It uses a similar approach as T-Mobile to flag potential robocalls as “Spam Risk” or “Fraud Risk” on your caller ID screen.
- Verizon: “Potential Spam”. Verizon also started offering free tools to identify robocalls in 2019. It uses a combination of data from its own network and third-party sources to mark unverified numbers that may be robocalls or scams as “Potential Spam” on your caller ID screen.
- Sprint: “Potential Fraud”. Sprint offers a free service called Call Screener Basic to all its users. It shows the words “Potential Fraud” on your caller ID screen when detecting spam or robocalls. As of April 2020, Sprint and T-Mobile have merged to form the third largest national carrier. It is unknown how the combined company will label calls in the future.
- Frontier: “Potential Spam”. Frontier provides a free feature to all its users who have Caller ID. It flags calls that may be spam as “Potential Spam” on your caller ID screen.
How to Avoid Robocalls When You See These Labels
While knowing that your phone carrier can warn you of possible robocalls is helpful, it is not enough to stop them from calling you. Here are some tips on what to do when you see these labels on your caller ID screen:
- Don’t answer. The best thing to do when you see a suspicious call is to ignore it and let it go to voicemail. If the call is from someone you know or a legitimate business, they will leave a message or text. If not, you can safely delete the voicemail or block the number.
- Block the calls with Call Control. While your phone carrier can identify potentially dangerous calls, they cannot block them from reaching your phone. That’s why you need a robocall blocking app like Call Control for iOS or Android to prevent these types of calls from ringing your phone in the first place. Call Control is a free app that has a 4.5 star rating from over 100,000 reviews and has been blocking calls for over 10 years. It uses a community-based blacklist of over 1 billion numbers and an advanced AI engine to block spam, scam, and robocalls automatically. You can also customize your own blacklist and whitelist, report unwanted calls, and enjoy other features like reverse phone lookup and caller ID.
- Report the calls to the FTC. You can also help fight against robocalls by reporting them to the FTC at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. The FTC collects consumer complaints and uses them to track down and take action against illegal robocallers.
Robocalls are a nuisance that can ruin your day and risk your privacy and security. However, you don’t have to suffer from them anymore. With the help of your phone carrier and a robocall blocking app like Call Control, you can easily recognize and avoid robocalls. Download Call Control on iOS or Call Control on Android today and enjoy a more peaceful and productive phone experience.
