You’re not imagining it: Scammers are increasingly blowing up your phone.
First Orion, an Arkansas company that provides caller ID and call blocking services, found that the volume of mobile scam calls has risen from 3.7% of total calls in 2017 to 29.2% in 2018. That number is likely to reach 44.6% by early 2019.
First Orion analyzed more than 34 billion calls made with partner T-Mobile USA (TMUS, +0.48%) and identified about 12% of them as scams. The 58 million T-Mobile subscribers see “Scam Likely” on the caller ID screen if the service determines a call fraudulent in nature.
During testimony to Congress in a hearing on robocalls and call spoofing this spring, First Orion EVP Scott Hambuchen said, “The fraudsters are very sophisticated, evolving their practices to avoid being labeled or blocked.
