T-Mobile First to Launch Caller Verification to Help Protect Customers from Scams 

T-Mobile launched its new Caller Verified technology which gives its customers even more protection from scammers and spammers than before. Through the latest Samsung Galaxy Note9 software update, calls on the T-Mobile network to an updated Galaxy Note9 are now Caller Verified, and customers see “Caller Verified” on the incoming call screen when T-Mobile has verified that the call is authentic and not intercepted by scammers/spammers. This technology is available now and free for all Un-carrier customers. Caller Verified will be available on more smartphones later this year.

Caller Verified is T-Mobile’s implementation of the STIR and SHAKEN standards. These standards combat illegal caller ID spoofing, which occurs when scammers temporarily hijack a phone number to match the area code and 3-digit prefix of the person they are targeting, making the incoming call look familiar. T-Mobile was first in the industry to announce readiness for STIR/SHAKEN in November 2018, and today, the Un-carrier became the first in the industry to launch caller verification using the STIR/SHAKEN standards. Once other wireless providers implement STIR/SHAKEN, Caller Verified will work on calls made across networks.

It is estimated that 50% of U.S. mobile traffic will be scam calls this year. Not only are unwanted calls annoying, they’re potentially dangerous with unsuspecting Americans tricked into losing hundreds, and sometimes untold thousands of dollars to fraudsters. While existing protection apps can blacklist known scam numbers, they often miss legitimate numbers that’ve been spoofed. Caller Verified assures you that the incoming phone number you see has been verified as authentic.

The Un-carrier is leading the industry in call protection. In 2017, T-Mobile introduced Scam ID and Scam Block for free to safeguard customers from scam calls. In 2018, the Un-carrier launched the new premium Name ID app giving customers more control over who can reach them on their phone than ever before. With these technologies, in the last 18 months, T-Mobile has flagged over 8.9 billion calls as Scam Likely and blocked more than a billion scam calls.

Source: T-Mobile media announcement