Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Almost Half of US Cellphone Calls Will be Scams by Next Year, Says Report

posted by chromas on Saturday September 15 2018, @05:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the http://www.archersecuritygroup.com/dont-fall-double-digit-phone-scam/ dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

By next year, nearly half of the mobile phone calls we get will be scams, according to a new report from First Orion, a company that provides calls management and protection for T-Mobile, MetroPCs, Virgin Mobile and others.

The percentage of scam calls in US 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.

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.

"Year after year, the scam call epidemic bombards consumers at record-breaking levels, surpassing the previous year and scammers increasingly invade our privacy at new extremes," First Orion CEO Charles Morgan said in the press release.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/almost-half-of-us-cell-phone-calls-will-be-scams-by-next-year-says-report/

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Almost Half of US Cellphone Calls Will be Scams by Next Year, Says Report | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 59 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by jasassin on Sunday September 16 2018, @07:45AM (1 child)

    by jasassin (3566) <jasassin@gmail.com> on Sunday September 16 2018, @07:45AM (#735571) Homepage Journal

    I use Google voice and it asks the caller to announce their name. When you pick up the phone, the name is announced and you can press 1 to accept, or just hang up.

    Side note: Someone I know gets multiple scam calls from a student loan scam every day and I guarantee you this person has never had a student loan.

    --
    jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:14AM

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:14AM (#735590)

    Oddly enough, I started getting those student loan scam calls about two months after making my final payment.
    I haven't had one in a while, it's just possible the airhorn I blew into their ears every time they called might of helped..

    --
    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.