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AT&T ramps up its fight against robocalls with Call Validation feature
The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have been trying, at least in theory, to stop the robocalling scourge from spreading for many years now, but even though a recent survey estimated a mind-blowing 200 million unwanted calls go through every single day in the US, the nation's major carriers are finally taking action against the thing that threatens to kill the enjoyment of using a mobile phone in this day and age.
Well, at least two of the "big four" American wireless service providers are making a concerted effort to clean their networks of spammers, scammers, and number spoofers, as AT&T follows T-Mobile's suit in implementing the SHAKEN/STIR standard to offer its customers a little more peace of mind when receiving a call from someone they don't know.
[...] Unfortunately, both Call Protect and Call Validation are currently only available on three high-end Android devices. Namely, Samsung's Galaxy S10 and S10+, as well as the LG V40 ThinQ. If it makes you feel any better, you don't have to do anything special to get the newly released feature enabled on the aforementioned smartphones. You will simply start seeing a green checkmark and the words "Valid number" on your handset's display when an incoming call is authenticated. That's a small step forward for one carrier and... an even as a whole.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @08:36PM (3 children)
I've been in a position, fairly recently, in looking for a job where I was expecting calls. Most of the calls I received were robocalls, I usually called back, and on one occasion I was met with another local at the end of the line; she'd been receiving calls back from a bunch of people, her otherwise legitimate number had been stolen and was being used to nefarious purposes. What kind of impact would this sort of program really have? Incentivizing bootlegging legitimate numbers for one, and as a downstream effect, it's liable to occasion unfortunate side effects like callback spam.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @10:19PM (1 child)
I've received calls from myself. I had to talk to myself about a windows virus that was detected on my Linux box. I told me he had called my car phone, and to call back on my landline. I gave him the number to the Whitehouse switchboard and to ask for Donald.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @11:02PM
LOL!!!
Thank you for that, I needed a good laugh. Well done!
BTW, a cherry on top of your very tasty sundae, is the current QOTD:
rts008
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @10:56PM
I had a similar experience with insurance scam calls...called back one of the local number missed calls, and got a very confused and frustrated young lady.
I explained the shady hijacking of cell ph #'s for these assholes, and suggested she contact the local DA. She seemed relieved to have a course of action, even if futile, thanked me, we had a good laugh, and I hope she has a better time of it.