T-Mobile has just launched a new technology which will give its customers better protection from spammers and scammers. Called Caller Verified, the technology uses the new STIR/SHAKEN standards to combat illegal caller ID spoofing.
Calls can be spoofed by hijacking a phone number to match the area code and 3-digit prefix of the person being targeted.
More scam calls in 2019
According to data and phone call enterprise company First Orion, nearly 50% of the U.S. mobile traffic in 2019 will be scam calls. Such calls are not only annoying, but often trick people into losing hundreds of dollars to the crooks. While there exist a number of apps that can block known scam numbers, they hardly can identify newly spoofed ones. T-Mobile’s Caller Verified will now fill that void, at least for its subscribers. The feature assures users that the incoming phone number they see has been verified as authentic. Customers using the new technology will see “Caller Verified” on their screens for incoming calls that T-Mobile has verified.
Unfortunately, Caller Verified currently works only on calls made between T-Mobile numbers being used in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. More smartphones will support the feature in the future, the company says, without specifying any name.
T-Mobile is the first in the U.S. to launch caller verification using the STIR/SHAKEN standards. The carrier had announced readiness for these standards, which combat illegal caller ID spoofing, in November 2018. Once other carriers implement these standards, Caller Verified will work on calls made across networks.
Earlier this week, T-Mobile, alongside Ericsson and Intel, achieved the world’s first 5G data call and video call on 600 MHz, both on a live commercial network. The telco also accomplished a tri-band 5G video call with three users on different spectrum bands: 600 MHz, 28 GHz, and 39 GHz.
