T-Mobile has published its second annual Scam and Robocall Report. The company claims to have identified or blocked 41.5 billion scam calls in 2022. If you break the figure down, it’s 1,317 scam calls identified or blocked every second by T-Mobile’s Scam Shield last year.
The self-proclaimed Un-carrier started sharing these numbers in 2021. The first annual report came in late December 2021 when T-Mobile said that its Scam Shield could identify more than 21 billion scam calls between January 1 and December 14, 2021, which breaks down to 700 calls every second. By the end of the year, the figure reached 23.7 billion. The company didn’t reveal what percentage of those calls were blocked or prevented to reach targeted victims. But it did tell us that scam attempts increased by 116 percent from the previous year.
In 2022, T-Mobile intervened 75 percent more scam calls than in 2021. Once again, it fails to share how many of the 41.5 billion attempted calls were entirely blocked by its Scam Shield. Instead, the company shared a graph showing that scam attempts have been steadily declining since they peaked in January (5.2 billion calls). On average, the Un-carrier detected a whopping 3.5 billion scam attempts every month last year. But that average for the last four months was down to 2.5 billion, which indicates more effective measures against scammers.
However, the problem is still pretty big. According to Truecaller, “Americans lost an estimated $39.5 billion to phone scams in 2022”. Mobile service providers might be doing their best to block scam calls, but it still isn’t enough. Perhaps T-Mobile suggests other carriers aren’t doing as much as it. “In June, Verizon said they blocked five billion robocalls in the first half of the year. In that same period, T-Mobile’s Scam Shield blocked an impressive 25 billion [phone scam attempts],” the Un-carrier bragged in a press release.
T-Mobile says scam calls are lowest during holidays
In its latest Scam and Robocall Report, T-Mobile has detailed some of the most common tactics that scammers used last year. 22 percent of scam calls identified by Scam Shield in 2022 involved vehicle insurance. However, by the end of July, the company had brought these scams to halt. There have been hardly any vehicle-related scam attempts in the last five months of the year.
But scammers still have other tactics to trick unsuspecting people. T-Mobile says health, finance, Social Security, Medicare, home, and Amazon scams were among the most popular ones in 2022. Scammers change tactics through seasons, with most attempts coming on weekdays as opposed to weekends. The volume of calls also increases during the holiday shopping season, with Amazon scams being the favorite around that time. However, scam attempts are lowest during holidays. “Even scammers need a break,” T-Mobile says, adding that scam traffic dropped about 90 percent during Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Easter, and 4th of July.
T-Mobile also revealed that scam tactics vary by demographic and region. Residents of Texas, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, and Oklahoma were the worst scam-hit states last year. The Un-carrier says that texas has more uninsured people than other states, so insurance-based scam tactics were more prevalent there. South Carolina, meanwhile, has more senior citizens. So the state was an easy target for health-related scams.
T-Mobile urges its customers to download its Scam Shield app and follow its tips to stay safe from potential scam attempts. It’s always a safe practice to avoid calls from unknown numbers. Even if you do, make sure to hang up the call if the other party is demanding any sort of immediate payment. You can click the button below to download the latest version of T-Mobile’s Scam Shield Android app from the Google Play Store.
2023-02-23 15:05:49