T-Mobile has a new feature that will flag "known scam" calls for its wireless users, according to Grant Castle, the company's VP of engineering services.
Scam ID will pop up an indicator that a call is a "likely scam" if it's coming from a number identified in PrivacyStar's database of scam callers, Castle said. T-Mobile won't block those calls, because FCC regulations prohibit carriers from blocking calls automatically. But subscribers can opt into "Scam Block," which uses PrivacyStar's database to block numbers listed there.
This won't affect telemarketing calls, Castle said. It's just about stopping scammers, such as those posing as IRS agents. "The only thing we block are numbers that have clearly been identified as scam and fraud," Castle said.
Scam ID will roll out over the next few weeks for free, although customers can request it earlier from T-Mobile. "Three out of four wireless callers get these at least once a year. Often, if a customer gets this, they get into databases or something and then they get a ton of these. Once you do, it's not fun," Castle said.
FCC Targets Scammers
T-Mobile's move comes a day after the FCC put out a press release floating new ways to stop robocalls, most of which involve lightening up on the regulations preventing carriers from blocking calls. (Scam callers ignore the National Do Not Call Registry, so signing up for the registry doesn't help.)
The agency said it's looking at letting carriers block calls from numbers that couldn't possibly dial out, from area codes that don't exist, or from numbers that haven't been assigned to anyone yet.
Testing this concept reduced IRS scam calls by about 90 percent in the third quarter of 2016, according to the agency.
There are already third-party apps that try to reduce robocalls, most notably Nomorobo, which we gave an Editors' Choice to in 2015. It's available for landlines and iPhones, but not Android devices. Several third-party apps, including PrivacyStar and Hiya, say they'll do the same on Android.
But T-Mobile's move makes it the first carrier to build in automatic scam detection for all callers. "It works if you change phones, it works if you're roaming, and it works on Wi-Fi calling," Castle said.