Phone Companies Must Implement Anti-Robocaller Technology

We all get them almost every day.  Phone calls from numbers you don't recognize. They are pretty tricky, too. The disguise their numbers to appear that they are coming from your own area code when the could be coming from anywhere on Earth.

I get the car warranty calls and even got a call once that there was a warrant out for my arrest and if I didn't pay right there, over the phone, they were coming to arrest me. Well, I've been waiting and it's been over six months.  Maybe they got lost.

According to an article in CNET, US phone consumers received 22 billion robocalls in the first 6 months of 2021.  It's taken awhile to get the FCC to actually act on this problem but they are now requiring all providers to make some needed changes by today (6/30).

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The "Big Guys" like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Comcast will be required to use Stir/Shaken, a technology that makes sure the calls coming to your phone are identified and signed off as legit before it will even ring through to your phone. In simple terms, the caller ID needs to match the calls origin.

Recently, a family friend got a call from a person claiming to work for an internet security company and informed her that her computers anti-virus protection had expired. She said the guy sounded so convincing that she let him access her computer. Bad move!  He collected a lot of valuable information.

In reality, I answer my phone very seldom unless it's my wife or one of my kids. Anything else can go to voicemail and I'll deal with it in my own time.