Nobody likes illegal robocalls. These mysterious calls come from numbers you don’t recognize so you don’t know whether to answer them. If you do answer them, are you going to be talking to a scammer who wants to defraud you?
What’s being done to protect you?
Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) has put rules into effect to crack down on scamming and spoofing, another term for those fake phone numbers that get you to answer the calls. Frontier has implemented STIR/SHAKEN protocol. You do not need to take any action.
STIR/SHAKEN identifies unwanted calls
Designed to combat spam robocalls and prevent spoofing, STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of standards for the telecom industry that requires carriers to digitally sign IP-originated calls by their customers. This carrier-based caller ID authentication system got its name from its technical function: Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs (SHAKEN). STIR/SHAKEN is much easier to say and remember, but some of us are calling it the James Bond protocol (bonus points if you get the reference).
How does this technology help you?
Frontier has enabled the STIR/SHAKEN protocol across our entire IP Voice network in order to:
- Reduce illegal call spoofing by verifying caller identity and reducing the effectiveness of fraudulently spoofed calls
- Give you more confidence that the calls you receive are legitimate
- Satisfy the FCC mandate
With implementation, STIR/SHAKEN gives our customers greater confidence that the caller ID information they receive is accurate. When phone calls are digitally “signed” as legitimate by originating carriers, then validated by other carriers before reaching you, you will have more helpful information about which calls to answer.
Guidelines for handling illegal robocalls
- Let calls go to voicemail when you don’t recognize the phone number
- If you mistakenly answer the call, do not have a conversation or press any buttons on your phone
- Do not respond to a pre-recorded message, which tells the scammers that they have reached a legitimate working phone number
- Hang up if they ask if you want to speak to a live operator
- Most importantly, do not provide any personal information, such as social security number or credit card number, to a caller
Frontier's commitment to keep you safe
We are with you in the fight against illegal robocalls and we are meeting current FCC requirements. Be assured that whenever new requirements are introduced, we will make them part of our technology so that you will have the latest protection against automated scams. Given the scope of the challenge and the nefarious intentions of the bad actors driving many of these calls, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach. Frontier supports public-private partnerships to continue fighting these robocalls. While there will always be someone trying to skirt the rules, and there may not be a silver bullet to 100% stop all of these calls, we are committed to fighting these callers with you.
