The FCC & telecoms know robocalls can be stopped — now you can know that also

Ben Rothke
13 min readMar 3, 2022
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/apps/a30985051/robocall-app-explainer/

Let’s cut to the chase: we all hate scam robocalls. But the big telecommunication companies make money off them. Any notion that the big telcos can’t control robocalls is erroneous. Not only can they prevent them, but they also make money off them.

Not all robocalls are harmful

It’s important to understand that there are different types of robocalls. There are legitimate robocalls, often with an existing relationship with the party they’re calling, such as when your bank calls to report a fraudulent purchase, 501(c)3 charities reverse 9–11 and the like. These robocalls follow regulatory guidelines, are legitimate, and follow the FTC Do Not Call Registry guidelines.

Then there are fraudulent robocalls fraudulent (traditional robocall scammers) from those trying to scam and defraud you. Their goal is often criminal and fraudulent, will not respect the Do Not Call Registry, and have malicious intent. The article is strictly about this category of scam robocalls.

Can we stop all robocalls?

I will propose a few solutions to stop scam robocalls. But that doesn’t mean we will ever be able to stop all robocalls. Look at it this way, here are some things we can’t stop, even though…

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Ben Rothke

I work in information security at Tapad. Write book reviews for the RSA blog, & a Founding member of the Cloud Security Alliance and Cybersecurity Canon.