That’s a good thing to help stop all those spoofed calls, but there’s still a lot to work out before it might make a noticeable difference. You may have heard that recently the biggest carriers pledged to support new network technology with a James Bond name – STIR/SHAKEN – that will help identify the true origin of calls. Phone companies have finally realized that stopping robocalls is an essential part of what we pay them for.
Round 2: Activate your service provider’s free protection Bonus: It also registers with the government that you care about this issue. It won’t help much, but it only takes 30 seconds so why not? The list, kept by the Federal Trade Commission, tells legitimate telemarketers not to bother you – the equivalent of a “no trespassing” sign on your lawn. Round 1: Register on the ‘Do Not Call’ list
Just adding numbers to your phone’s individual block list won’t get you very far, but there are a few simple steps everyone could benefit from. It comes down to how much effort you want to put into battling robocalls, and how much personal information you’re willing to share to make it happen. And one free app was, on average, faster at adding bad guys to its blacklist. Those are the callers that look conspicuously similar to your number, or copy the caller ID of some poor soul who gets lots of angry return calls. My test lasers in on one important question: Who was first at identifying the bad guys? I discovered no service could flag more than two-thirds of the calls on my list, in part because so many robocalls spoof their identities. (Landlines and VoIP phones also get barraged, but some of the solutions are different.) Then I took this list of 100 naughty numbers – and a few legitimate calls like pharmacies and schools – to six tech companies that flag and block robocalls on cellphones: Hiya, Nomorobo, RoboKiller, TNS, Truecaller and YouMail. I get lots in Chinese one colleague gets one for a “medical-grade brace” that he definitely doesn’t need. I collected dozens of robocalls from my Washington Post colleagues along with the (good grief) 30 I got myself in March. A how-to guide to stop robocall spammers and exact revenge Close Menu