T-Mobile Will Now Flag Scam Calls

T-Mobile has a new feature that will flag "known scam" calls for its wireless users, according to Grant Castle, the visitor's VP of technology services.

SecurityWatch Scam ID will pop up an indicator that a telephone call is a "likely scam" if it's coming from a number identified in PrivacyStar'southward database of scam callers, Castle said. T-Mobile won't block those calls, because FCC regulations prohibit carriers from blocking calls automatically. But subscribers can opt into "Scam Block," which uses PrivacyStar's database to cake numbers listed there.

This won't affect telemarketing calls, Castle said. It's just most stopping scammers, such as those posing equally IRS agents. "The simply thing nosotros block are numbers that have clearly been identified as scam and fraud," Castle said.

Scam ID will roll out over the next few weeks for gratis, although customers tin can asking information technology earlier from T-Mobile. "Three out of four wireless callers get these at least once a year. Often, if a client gets this, they get into databases or something and so they get a ton of these. In one case you practise, it'due south non fun," Castle said.

FCC Targets Scammers

T-Mobile'southward motility comes a day after the FCC put out a press release floating new means to terminate robocalls, most of which involve lightening up on the regulations preventing carriers from blocking calls. (Scam callers ignore the National Do Not Telephone call Registry, so signing upward for the registry doesn't help.)

The agency said information technology'due south looking at letting carriers cake calls from numbers that couldn't possibly dial out, from surface area codes that don't exist, or from numbers that oasis't been assigned to anyone yet.

Testing this concept reduced IRS scam calls by about 90 pct in the third quarter of 2022, according to the agency.

In that location are already third-party apps that attempt to reduce robocalls, well-nigh notably Nomorobo, which we gave an Editors' Pick to in 2022. It'due south available for landlines and iPhones, but not Android devices. Several third-party apps, including PrivacyStar and Hiya, say they'll do the same on Android.

But T-Mobile's move makes information technology the outset carrier to build in automatic scam detection for all callers. "It works if you lot modify phones, it works if you're roaming, and it works on Wi-Fi calling," Castle said.