Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Robocalls Slammed My Phone. Are the Big Carriers Fighting This?
GV-Wire
By Jody Murray
Published 6 years ago on
July 26, 2019

Share

The phone tone warbled on my trusty, two-year-old Android. I looked at the screen. It wasn’t a familiar number, but had Fresno’s 559 area code. I accepted the call.
A robotic, male voice began to alert me that my Social Security number had been suspended because of suspicious activity. Oh, really? I ended the obvious spam call, feeling more than a little sheepish about fielding it.

Portrait of GV Wire's editor/reporter Jody Murrray
Jody Murray
Over the next 24 hours, my LG G6 rang six more times with the same robocall (yes, I answered every one; I was intrigued). Each time, the phone number changed. Sometimes it was an “800” call, sometimes it sported an area code “from” Chicago. Or New York. Or Trinidad Tobago.

The Evils of Spoofing

Wherever they were coming from, they have a lot of company. According to YourMail, a site that tracks what’s commonly known as robocalls, 4.35 billion were placed in the United States in June alone. About 30.85 million of those were aimed at the Fresno metropolitan area.
Not all spam calls are to cellular phones, of course. Fixed-location numbers continue to be targeted. But since the popularization of internet-based voice transmission (also known as VoIP) about a decade ago, spammers have learned how to hijack the tech and unleash their schemes across wireless networks. Worse yet, they are able to conceal the call’s source, replacing it with a familiar number.
The trick is called spoofing. In a recent example, Fresno County authorities warned that spammers were hiding behind a Sheriff’s Office dispatch number.
And robocalls are much more than a bothersome time suck. Last year, Americans lost an estimated $10.5 billion to phone schemes. Even if not all the losses originate from a call to a cellular phone, that’s a staggering number.
The four major wireless phone carriers — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon — are under pressure to ramp up the tools and tech necessary to identify or, better yet, seal off these malicious phone calls.
Friday brought news that U.S. regulators had approved T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion takeover of rival Sprint, despite fears of higher prices and job cuts, in a deal that would leave just three major cellphone companies. But I suspect this consolidation won’t lessen the pressure on protecting consumers from scammers.

Graphic describing what phone companies are doing to prevent robocalls
(Alexis DeSha/GV Wire)
By and large, the carriers are responding. Three of the four have free robocall-detection apps that are either part of a new phone’s software or easily downloaded from Apple’s App Store or Android’s Google Play. The exception: Sprint, which offers a feature called Premium Caller ID for an extra $2.99 on your monthly bill.
Sure, that’s less than a Starbucks grande mocha, but price isn’t the point. The Federal Communications Commission is pressing the carriers to agree on measures that will wall off robocalls with little or no effort by consumers.

FCC Puts on the Pressure

(By the way, if you’re an iPhone user, serious help is on the way. The next iOS software release, projected to come down in September, will feature a powerful “silence unknown callers” option.)
In June, FCC voted to approve a crucial change to how spam-call detectors or blockers are handled. The apps now can be installed and activated in the factory, with the user having the option to remove it. That’s what’s referred to as “opt-out” technology. Previously, spam detectors were “opt-in” — the software could be installed but not activated, leaving the user to choose to turn it on.
FCC also is pressing the Big 4 carriers to adopt an authentication technology with a memorable acronym: SHAKEN/STIR. Essentially, it attaches a digital certificate to a phone call that travels from carrier to carrier, acting like a trusted passport across networks. And that’s the catch: SHAKEN/STIR will be effective only if all the carriers adopt it. The feds want that to happen by the end of this year.
According to the FCC, the major carriers are buying in, but the commission is keeping the pressure on. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said recently that if the companies aren’t aboard by year’s end, the commission “will have to consider regulatory intervention.”

But Did It Do Enough?

One commissioner was concerned that the FCC’s actions didn’t go far enough. Specifically, she was disappointed the commission didn’t require the wireless carriers to provide all protections at no charge. In other words, don’t let the carriers charge more for “premium” detections and blocks.
“I do not think that this agency should pat itself on the back for its efforts to reduce robocalls and then tell customers to pay up,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “They are already paying the price — in scams flooding our phone lines; wasted time responding to false and fraudulent calls offering us what we did not ask for, do not want, and do not need; and a growing distrust in our most basic communications.”
“I want it to stop. But I do not believe I should have to pay for that privilege.”
That concern is part of what a New Jersey congressman had in mind in a bill that passed in the House on Wednesday. Rep. Frank Pallone’s H.R. 3375 requires phone carriers to provide call-authentication and call-blocking technology at no cost to consumers. The bill, which was approved by every Valley representative, still needs Senate approval.

Meanwhile, Back to My LG G6

So what happened with my Droid and those Social Security robocalls? My carrier is AT&T. I found the Call Protect service in a suite of AT&T apps and activated it (opt-in vs. opt-out, remember?)
The result: Blessed robocall silence. I checked Call Protect a couple of days later and saw it had flagged three “telemarketer” calls.

As for the bigger picture, there’s a sign the good guys are getting the upper hand. The nationwide robocall tally by YouMail has shrunk steadily in recent months, falling by 17% between March and June. Is it a trend, or only a lull until the robocallers gin up a strategy to outflank us?
It’s a cat and mouse game. I chose to be the cat. For now, it’s working.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

DON'T MISS

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

DON'T MISS

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

DON'T MISS

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

DON'T MISS

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

DON'T MISS

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

DON'T MISS

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

UP NEXT

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

UP NEXT

Chargers in Need of Help at Wide Receiver and Tight End in the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Magic Happens When Kids and Adults Learn to Swim. Tragedy Can Strike if They Don’t.

UP NEXT

Humanoid Robots Run a Chinese Half-Marathon Alongside Human Competitors

UP NEXT

Anti-Trump Protesters Turn Out to Rallies Across Country

UP NEXT

250 Years After America Went to War for Independence, a Divided Nation Battles Over Its Legacy

UP NEXT

Greg Cronin Fired as Coach of Anaheim Ducks After 2 Seasons

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill More Than 90 People in 48 Hours, Palestinians Say

UP NEXT

US and Iran Advance Nuclear Talks to Expert Level After Rome Meeting

UP NEXT

Putin Announces an Easter Ceasefire as Russia and Ukraine Swap Hundreds of POWs

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

3 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

4 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

4 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

4 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

4 hours ago

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

4 hours ago

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

5 hours ago

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

5 hours ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

5 hours ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

6 hours ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Paul Atkins, who previously served as a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member from 2002 to 2008 and wa...

2 hours ago

CEO of Patomak Global Partners Paul Atkins takes part in a strategic and policy CEO discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Eisenhower Execution Office Building in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo)
2 hours ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 13, 2020. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
2 hours ago

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

3 hours ago

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

Pilar Rose, 51, formerly of Fresno, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing an IRS audit, agreeing to forfeit her mansion and BMW after falsifying financial records to evade taxes and secure fraudulent loans. (Zillow)
3 hours ago

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

Nathaniel Ray Diaz, 21, of Greenfield, is a California state prisoner who has been indicted on federal charges on Monday, April 21, 2025, for allegedly directing a minor to send sexually explicit images while serving time for previous offenses against the same child. (Shutterstock)
4 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a news conference about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest autism survey in Washington, April 16, 2025. In his first attempt to significantly change the nation’s food supply, Kennedy will direct food manufacturers to phase out eight petroleum-based food dyes that are found in hundreds of thousands of grocery-store staples, the department said on Monday, April 21. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

4 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
4 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend