Robocalls, Spam Likely to Surpass Legit Calls in 2019

The number of robocalls to Americans rose by nearly 50 percent last year, according to a newly-published estimate. It's consistent with other reports that suggest that 2019 will be the first year where half of all phone calls are marketing messages.

The figure comes from Hiya, a "spam-monitoring service" and is based on data from 450,000 users of its phone app. There's reason for a note of caution on the raw numbers, as it's possible the type of people who would use such an app are getting more unwanted calls than the average citizen in the first place.

That aside, Hiya says that if the experiences of its users are representative, the total number of robocalls last year was around 26.3 billion. That's up from 18 billon the previous year. (Source: washingtonpost.com)

70 Calls a Month From 'Unknown' Callers

The company also says its customers received an average of 10 robocalls each month, meaning automated messages that play when the recipient picks up. It also said customers received an average of 60 calls a month that were either from unknown numbers, or from people who weren't already in the user's contacts.

One of the biggest problems (beyond the sheer number of unwanted calls) is that the people behind robocalls have found ways to spoof their number so that the calls appear to come in from the recipients area code. That makes it more likely the recipient will answer the call.

Number Spoofing Could Be Detected

There's also a legal angle. Callers who are on the national Do Not Call Registry can take legal action against robocalls that are still calling them. However, there's some question over what exactly counts as an "automated telephone dialing system" (an official legal term for robocalling). On top of that, officials have accused lawyers of 'cashing in' with claims that are borderline of the definition of a true robocall.

For the record, calls from presidential candidates and charity calls, although automated, are not considered as a robocall.

A technical solution could be on the way, however. Major cellphone carriers have all agreed to use a technology with the odd name of SHAKEN/STIR. It's a digital certificate program similar to that used to verify who operates secure websites. The idea is that networks can confirm if the number that's showing up as making the call is correct, or warn the user if something look suspicious. (Source: nymag.com)

What's Your Opinion?

How do you deal with unwanted calls? Is legal action against robocall operators appropriate? Would you appreciate technical solutions to expose phone spammers?