In the News
In Verizon will offer free spam protection to all of its customers, Dami Lee at The Verge discusses Verizon’s plan to provide spam blocking to all Verizon customers for free instead of requiring an additional fee for such services. Lee explains that other phone service providers already offer this service for free. Lee states that this move complies with government requirements for customer spam identification by 2019 and that Verizon reportedly has blocked over 1 billion spam calls from reaching its customer base.
Our Take
Customers using various phone carriers experience the burden of receiving spam calls constantly. With the increased sophistication of such calls and their ability to appear relatively legitimate, receiving phone calls from an unknown number may cause concern or general annoyance. While it is beneficial that Verizon had previously offered a service that blocked many of these spam calls, the fact that customers had to pay for this service is unfortunate given the free nature of similar services provided on alternative carriers. Verizon’s move to create a free service for blocking spam calls will increase the audience for spam blocking services and potentially protect more customers from the frequency of spam callers. However, this service does require customer registration and will only be as effective as the number of individuals who register. Mitigating your contact with spam callers is essential to maintaining the privacy of your information and free services such as Verizon’s assist in that ultimate goal.
Recommendations
How can you protect your personal and financial information from spam callers?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Refrain from answering calls from unknown numbers, especially is the caller is not local
- Register for spam protection services if your carrier offers such a service
- Refrain from providing financial information over the phone
- Stay up to date on recent spam and fraud attempts
- Track your finances and personal accounts often to spot suspicious activity before it becomes harmful