1 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:08,720 Speaker 1: Your best protection against robocalls? What's going on? I'm rich Demiro, 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: This is rich on Tech. Daily robocalls. We can't live 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: with them, We can't live well, yeah, we can live 4 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: without them, but it's kind of tough to imagine a 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: world without robocalls because they're so prevalent these days. The 6 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: worst part the calls are getting more frequent and scammers 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: are getting better and better at trying to make us 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: pick up the phone. So how can we stop this madness? 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: Recently I had a fascinating conversation with Jonathan Nelson. He's 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: the director of product management at Haya. This is a 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: technology company that creates software and solutions to help us 12 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: combat robocalls. 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: So we have our own algorithms, the machine learning algorithms 14 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 2: that look at call patterns that we see and can 15 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,160 Speaker 2: pick out when particular scammer numbers come online. We also 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 2: get reports from users and work with the FCC and 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 2: the FTC. 18 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: HYA used to be whitepages dot com, one of my 19 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: favorite Android apps which would id all callers on my phone. 20 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: So why does it seem like we're getting so many 21 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:06,919 Speaker 1: robo calls these days? 22 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 2: For robo calls to be successful, they really need three things. 23 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 2: They need to be able to make calls an extreme 24 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 2: high volume for cheap, which you can do now thanks 25 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 2: to voiceover IP or VOIPE technology. They need to be 26 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,320 Speaker 2: able to do so without getting caught, which is easy 27 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 2: to do with the way the phone industry works these days. 28 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 2: And then they need victims who will fall for it, 29 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 2: which unfortunately. 30 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: We still have now. There are several reasons for these 31 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: robo calls. Many of them are selling products and services. 32 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Others are just outright scams, but mainly they just want 33 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: us to pick up the phone so they can hook 34 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: us in some way. And one of the newest tactics 35 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: is called the neighbor scam. This is where the phone 36 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: number displayed on your caller ID looks a lot like 37 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: your phone number. 38 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 2: This voiceover IP software that they have makes it very 39 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: easy for them to impersonate a phone number that's similar 40 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 2: to yours automatically, so it's not done manually at all. 41 00:01:58,040 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 2: They're able to just do. 42 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: It in bulk. Nelson showed me a demo tool high 43 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: A built that does basically what the robo callers do. 44 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: I made up a phone number, he typed it into 45 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: the website in seconds, My phone rang and the number 46 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: that popped up on my caller ID was the number 47 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: I just made up. While robo callers use tools like 48 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: this in bulk, he says, there are lots of websites 49 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: available to even the everyday person where they can do 50 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: the same thing. 51 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 2: The way the phone system works makes it very difficult 52 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 2: for the government agencies to track down who created the calls. 53 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 2: It's a very, very long process. It has been ruled 54 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 2: that all robo calls are illegal unless you specifically requested it, 55 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 2: like a prescription reminder. So if you answer it no, 56 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 2: you were talking to someone committing a crime. So do 57 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:48,839 Speaker 2: not trust anything you hear. If it's intimidating or encouraging, 58 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 2: you should not take it seriously. 59 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: So how do you stop the calls? Well, you can 60 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: grab an app like Hyas of course, to help you 61 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: identify and block these spam calls. AT and T has 62 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: their own app called call Protect, which you can download 63 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: for free, and that's basically a white label version of 64 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,119 Speaker 1: highest software. And T Mobile offers free spam call protection. 65 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's already activated on your account depending on your plan. 66 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: Others you might have to just tell them you want it. 67 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: Other carriers might charge you a small monthly fee for 68 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: the protection, but your absolute best defense just don't pick 69 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: up the phone. 70 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 2: If you've phoned your phone number for a long time, 71 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 2: if you'll applied for a lot of mortgages or payday loans, 72 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 2: that gets your number out into databases that these scammers 73 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 2: can buy. But a lot of it is just simply 74 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 2: they are trying numbers to see if anyone picks up, 75 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 2: and if you do answer the phone, you are known 76 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 2: to be a valid number and you will get more calls. 77 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 2: Answering the phone tells the scammer that the phone number 78 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 2: is active and so they will more than likely call 79 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: more frequently. 80 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: You can watch my video on how easy it is 81 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: for robo callers to spoof your caller ID. That's on 82 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: my website. Just go to richon tech dot tv to 83 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: watch it. And thanks for listening. If you like what 84 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: I'm doing here with the daily podcast, please rate and 85 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: review it in the Apple podcast app. Just hit that 86 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: link where it says write a review. I'm Rich Demiro. 87 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. I'll talk to you real soon.