For many readers, this is already a common problem and unfortunately it’s caused many to simply ignore unfamiliar numbers. Technology site is CNET is reportingabout a recent study that predicts nearly half of mobile phone calls in 2019 will be scams. The report, from First Orion, says that the percentage of scam calls in US mobile traffic increased from 3.7% in 2017 to 29.2% this year and they predict it will rise to 44.6% in 2019. The data was revealed in First Orion’s inaugural 2018 Scam Call Trends and Projections Report. Stay tuned….this isn’t going to be pretty and it will need to be solved. So much for that “do not call” list.
“The most popular method scammers use to try to get people to pick up the phone is called “neighborhood spoofing,” where they disguise their numbers with a local prefix so people presume the calls are safe to pick up, First Orion said. Third-party call blocking apps may help protect consumers from known scam numbers, but they can’t tell if a scammer hijacks someone’s number and uses it for scam calls.”