You probably get robocalls all the time. Some pretend to be from the IRS, others come from a phone number very similar to yours. And then there’s the rash of free airline tickets/problem with your credit card/complete this short survey intrusions.
If it feels like they’re cropping up more than ever, you’re right. The blocking service YouMail estimates that 2.49 billion robocalls were placed to US consumers last month, marking a 4.1 percent increase over September. This translates to 80.5 million robocalls, every single day.Telemarketer calls to landlines have plagued consumers for decades, but the rise in mobile robocalling has made the situation freshly appalling. Efforts to contain the problem, like central Do Not Call lists, have a crucial flaw: They cut down on robocalls from law-abiding groups like charities and corporations, but they don’t deter criminal scam operations. Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commission can. And it’s finally started to take some action.
Rule Intentions
Perhaps most significantly, the FCC announced new rules last week that allow telephony providers to block some connections that are likely robocalls before they ever to get to customers—a proactive step meant to have a dramatic impact on total completed robocalls. But while consumer advocates praise the move, they caution that it won’t singlehandedly solve the robocalling crisis.
“It’s a worthwhile thing to be doing, but it’s not the be all and end all,” says Jim McEachern, a senior technology consultant at the communication industry standards body ATIS. “The catch is that if you start blocking numbers that have [certain properties], then the robocallers will just spoof different numbers.”
The FCC approved telecom companies to block calls from invalid numbers (like ones with a fake area code), numbers that aren’t linked to a service provider, numbers that aren’t currently claimed, and numbers that are only set up to receive calls not make them. This will cut down on a lot of scam robocalls at first, but attackers will probably evolve to get around the limitations. ATIS’s McEachern notes that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has already had similar rules in place for years that have helped, but far from eliminated the robocalling issue.
On Thursday, the FCC also nodded to the possibility that the new rules could lead to some situations where legitimate calls get blocked along with the malicious ones. The “Report and Order encourages voice service providers that elect to block calls to establish a simple way to identify and fix blocking errors,” the agency said. And though the FCC Commissioners unanimously approved the new rules, some opposed the provision that telecoms will be allowed to charge customers for the call blocking services. “It’s a good thing that this agency is taking action,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement on Thursday. “But then [it] makes sure you can pay for the privilege….
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