What Are Spam Risk Calls and How to Avoid Them?
Spam isn’t just an annoyance to your email inbox; it's also becoming a problem for our phones. Last year, the average American received 9 monthly spam calls, totaling 3 billion spam and unwanted calls nationwide, costing $25.4 billion.
Spam risk encounters people will likely receive are through:
- Emails (49%)
- Phone calls (26.5%)
- Text messages (14.7%)
- Messaging apps like WhatsApp (9.8%)
Out of people who fell for these kinds of scams, the most common amount people lost was between $100 - $249, and a smaller group said they lost over $1,000.
These numbers differ from country to country, with Germany and France losing the most on average from spam phone calls, as shown below.
To prevent annoying spam messages, losing money, or losing our data, mobile carriers are offering a “spam risk” warning for numbers that are likely to be considered spam.
To help you understand the risk of spam and how to prevent spam calls from appearing on your phone, we will cover everything you need to know throughout this article to reduce the risk of spam calls, emails, or messages.
Table of contents
- Phishing and fraud
- Malware and ransomware
- Exposure to future scams
- Loss of business reputation
- Loss of time
What is spam risk?
A spam risk call is a message on your smartphone informing you that your mobile carrier has flagged the source number calling you as spam.
Typically, these scam calls come from people who have encountered your phone number online, either in a data breach, from social media sites (your LinkedIn CV, for example), data brokers, or other software scammers use to call random phone numbers.
It is useful to avoid spam phone calls, but not all methods are foolproof. Some of these calls go unnoticed by the service provider, which can risk people’s data and finances.
What is the risk of answering spam risk phone calls?
Any spam attempts, whether it’s from phone calls, emails, or text messages, can have many negative effects and expose you to even more attacks on your data, finances, and emotional well-being.
The following examples also pose significant risks to businesses and employees as they will use the following techniques to steal information for identity theft, financial fraud, theft, and unauthorized access to accounts.
Phishing and fraud
Phishing remains the most common threat to our data, so it’s crucial to protect all sensitive information and files using services like Internxt Send, and Internxt Send for any confidential information you don’t want intercepted with our encrypted file-sharing service.
Spam risk calls can be more risky, as the scammer relies on human interaction and social engineering techniques to build trust and eventually steal your information.
The caller will contact you, explaining they are from a trusted service, such as your bank. To build the initial trust, the scammer may use fake credentials and ID spoofing to appear legitimate.
Once they sense you feel confident, the scammer will create a sense of urgency, claiming there is an issue with your account or you owe x amount of money in taxes.
Then, to “verify your identity,” the scammer may ask for your:
- Social Security or National ID number.
- Account passwords or PINs.
- Debit/credit card numbers or CVV codes.
Once received, the scammer will claim the problem has been solved. Instead, they now have the information they need to steal your money, log in to your accounts, and commit identity theft and fraud.
Malware and ransomware
Like the previous phishing example, a scammer may call you, posing as a technician, claiming a problem with your device or services. These problems include a virus on your device, your accounts being compromised, or your computer being flagged for illegal activity.
To get you to “fix” the problem, the scammer may ask you to install malicious software, direct you to a fake website to steal your account details, or install remote desktop tools that gives them control of your device and thus provide them with access to all your accounts, files, and information.
Once malware is installed, it exposes your device to ransomware, spying, or access to other devices on the network, compromising everyone else and increasing the chances of causing more harm to third parties.
Exposure to future scams
Spammers will often use automated systems to call random numbers on the off chance that someone answers. Therefore, if you pick up a call flagged as spam risk, this notifies the scammers that the number belongs to a real person.
Once the number is verified, your number may be added to a list of verified numbers, which is sold to telemarketers or other scammers, so your chances of being a victim of spam become much higher.
Loss of business reputation
As scammers pose as businesses, if they use your name and the victim falls for the scam, they may think your company is to blame. As a result, it could lead to negative reviews, spread the wrong idea that your company is not legit, and trick its customers so they can steal their money.
Once your brand is damaged and customer loyalty is lost, it can be hard to regain and lose the business of its current customers and prevent new ones from trusting and buying from your company.
Loss of time
Money isn’t the only thing at risk from spam risk calls; time is also at risk. For businesses and their employees, the loss of time can significantly impact productivity and, in turn, cost the company money.
Imagine if one employee wastes 9 minutes a week on these kinds of calls, which adds up to 7 hours a year. If this is spread across more employees in the company, the loss of time, resources, business productivity, and money can soon add up.
Below are the average times lost across different countries due to spam calls.
How to identify spam calls
Unfortunately, scammers know many methods to trick systems into appearing as legitimate as possible, so relying on a spam risk message or avoiding unknown numbers isn't a foolproof method to prevent spam.
However, you can still identify spam calls in a similar way to spam emails by looking for the following techniques or red flags from these calls, which are:
- Unfamiliar or international area codes.
- Urgent or threatening language.
- Request for sensitive information.
Remember, no legitimate company will ever ask for passwords, credit card information, or any other personal data linked to you over the phone. If you receive this request, hang up and block and report the number immediately.
How to block spam risk calls
If you receive a spam call, your iOS or Android device has features to prevent and block these numbers from contacting you again. Here’s how.
For iOS
First, you can turn on call identification to view more details about the number calling you.
- Go to Settings > Apps > Phone.
- Tap Call Blocking & Identification, then turn on one or more of the following:
- Business Call Identification: Caller information is identified by Apple Business Connect or your carrier.
- Silence Junk Callers: Calls identified by your carrier as potential spam or fraud are silenced and automatically sent to voicemail.
- Call Identification apps: Caller information is identified by supported caller ID apps.
Next, you can block numbers.
- Go to the Phone app on your iPhone.
- Tap Favorites, Recents, or Voicemail.
- Tap next to the number or contact you want to block, scroll down, then tap Block Caller.
Finally, you can send unknown and spam callers to voicemail so you can verify the caller if necessary.
- Go to Settings > Apps > Phone, then tap any of the following:
- Silence Unknown Callers: You get notifications for calls from people in your contacts, recent outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions.
- Call Blocking & Identification: Turn on Silence Junk Callers (available with certain carriers) to silence calls identified by your carrier as potential spam or fraud.
Android
To block a specific number on Android, follow these steps:
- Open the Phone app, select Recents, and tap the avatar of the caller you want to block.
- Tap the three-dot icon in the top right and select Block numbers.
- Select the box Report as spam, then tap Block to confirm.
Next, you can enable caller ID and spam protection.
- Open the Phone app, tap the three-dot icon, and select Settings.
- Under the Assistive settings, tap Caller ID & spam.
- Toggle See caller and spam ID and Filter spam calls to the right.
These calls won’t appear as missed calls but will appear in your call history or if the caller leaves a voicemail.
Download third-party apps
Some apps provide call-blocking tools to prevent spam risk calls, which you can research online and find or try to find the best one to fit your needs.
If you choose this method, be sure to research extensively by reading through reviews, searching online opinions, and downloading the app from a verified source to prevent malware.
Improve your security with Internxt
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Internxt is dedicated to protecting the privacy of our users online, from spam risk and other threats to your data with our cloud storage, VPN, and upcoming Mail, Meet, and Antivirus products. Subscribe to any of our plans today to help secure your privacy online.
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