CYBERSECURITY
Dealing with Spam Calls, Texts
Phillip Kittelson | 31 Jan 23 |
4 min read
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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the last few years, you should have experienced the spammer/scammer text and phone call phenomenon. It mostly started with the “we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty” robo calls, and has morphed into quite the out of control daily part of life now.
Scammers and spammers have become increasingly better at tricking users into clicking on links, and typing in their Amazon/Disney+/Netflix/whatever logon credentials. Think about it, given the volume of Amazon’s logistics network (in 2020, the site delivered 4.2 billion packages), the out of the hundreds of recipients a scammer might include in a text campaign, someone is probably waiting near their door for an Amazon package. Scammers will often include an urgent message, indicating something is wrong with your shipment unless you log in now!
Be Aware
Awareness is important to, first, and foremost:
- If sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No, the IRS is not going to call you, and demand payment in Walmart gift cards.
- Hold your cards close. Never give out personal information, login info, or visit a website provided to you by someone over the phone. Especially if THEY call YOU.
- Avoid clicking on Google Ads links. Google Ads are rife with fake and malicious sites, so if you are searching for the real website of a company trying to call you, or to download a program, use the legitimate website, not the Google Ads sponsored links.
- Know how legitimate companies operate. Most companies will not contact you or require any action at all. If you’ve ever reset your password for a website, the email or text you receive might state to ignore the message if the activity did not originate from you. Well-built password reset systems are designed to deal with the hundreds of fake password reset requests they would receive in a day. Amazon, if there is a package delay, will just tell you the package will be late, and does not expect you to login to their platform to fix anything.
Silence incoming calls
If you are receiving scam calls, one feature you can take advantage of is to silence unknown incoming calls. This feature will silence any number you do not have in your contacts list, recent call log, or Siri Suggestions. To enable this function on a iPhone go to Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers. If you are listed as an emergency contact for someone, at a grandchild’s school for example, you’d have to create a contact with the school’s phone number. This will not work if you receive a one-off call from an extension at the school, let’s say from the nurse’s office, where it does not display the main number, but that extension.
Filter text messages
You can filter text messages as well, which could help reduce the chances of you tapping on a link inadvertently. For iPhones, go to Settings > Messages > Unknown & Spam > and switching on Filter Unknown Senders. You Doing this will sent unknown senders to a Junk folder in your main messages list. You’ll want to check often to catch any messages from legitimate senders.
Install a call screener app
Going above, you can tap into a paid or non-paid app or service for assistance. Here are two apps I have tried.
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Malwarebytes, a well-known antivirus company, offers a mobile security app, which claims to block malicious websites, robocalls, and annoying ads. I tried Malwarebytes paid and non-paid service on my iPhone, and I was not impressed. While the app did block malicious and annoying web-based content, it did not block most spammer/scammer attempts via text message filtering or call protection. Malwarebytes Mobile Security is available on iPhone and Android.
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RoboKiller is another app which offers a paid and non-paid service. I’ve been using RoboKiller’s paid service for several months, and I am content with the protection the app offers. The main feature for RoboKiller is the call and text message screening it offers. The app does route your phone calls through their system, and will allow calls based on an allow list, your recently sent text messages, and call logs. RoboKiller will send known spammer/scammer calls to a call screener to keep them occupied and not scamming someone else during that time. For legitimate callers, the app will allow them to state who they are and present it to you inside the app, where you can elect to call them back, allow the call, or block the number. I have had calls from my new dentist office, which were allowed by the app. RoboKiller is available for iPhone and Android.