The conversation
Does ignoring automatic calls stop them? Here’s what we learned from receiving 1.5 million calls on 66,000 phone lines
New research aims to provide telephone companies with tools to help contain automatic calls. Peter Dazeley / The Image Bank via Getty ImagesThe Research Brief is a brief summary of interesting academic papers. The big idea Over 80% of automatic calls come from fake numbers – and whether or not to answer those calls does not affect the number of calls you will receive. These are the two main findings of an 11-month study on unsolicited calls that we conducted from February 2019 to January 2020. To better understand how these unwanted calls operate, we monitor all incoming calls on more than 66,000 phone lines in our lab phone security, the North Carolina State University Robocall Observatory. We received 1.48 million unsolicited calls during the study. We answered some of these calls, while others let us ring. Contrary to popular wisdom, we found that answering calls makes no difference to the number of automatic calls received by a phone number. The weekly volume of automatic calls remained constant throughout the study. As part of our study, we have also developed the first method to identify automatic calling campaigns responsible for a large number of these irritating, illegal and fraudulent automatic calls. The main types of automatic calling campaigns were about student loans, health insurance, Google business listings, general financial fraud and a long-standing Social Security scheme. Using these techniques, we learned that more than 80% of calls in an average automatic calling campaign use fake or short-lived phone numbers to make your calls unwanted. Using these phone numbers, perpetrators deceive their victims and make it much more difficult to identify and prosecute illegal assailants. We also saw that some fraudulent robotic call operations went through government agencies for many months undetected. They used messages in English and Mandarin and threatened the victims with dire consequences. These messages are targeted at vulnerable populations, including immigrants and the elderly. Why it matters Providers can identify the true source of a call using a lengthy manual process called a traceback. Today, there are many automatic calls to make traceback a practical solution for all calls. Our automatic calling campaign identification technique is not just a powerful search tool. It can also be used by service providers to identify large-scale robocalling operations. Using our methods, providers need to investigate only a small number of calls for each automatic call campaign. Aiming at the source of abusive automatic calls, service providers can block or terminate these operations and protect their subscribers from scams and illegal telemarketing. What is not yet known Providers are implementing a new technology called STIR / SHAKEN, which may prevent robocallers from falsifying their phone numbers. When deployed, it will simplify call tracking, but it will not work for providers using older technology. Robocallers also adapt quickly to new situations, so they can find a way to get around STIR / SHAKEN. No one knows how robocallers interact with their victims and how often they change their strategies. For example, an increasing number of automated calls and scammers are using COVID-19 as a premise to defraud people. What’s next In the coming years, we will continue our research on automatic calls. Let’s look at whether STIR / SHAKEN reduces automatic calls. We are also developing techniques to better identify, understand and help providers and law enforcement authorities to direct automated call operations. This article was republished from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Sathvik Prasad, North Carolina State University and Bradley Reaves, North Carolina State University. Read more: Robocalls are unstoppable – 3 questions answered about why your phone keeps ringingRise and fall of the landline: 143 years of phones becoming more accessible – and smartWhy are there so many idiots? A neuropsychologist explains that Sathvik Prasad is a member of the USENIX association. Radley Reaves receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. This research was supported by in-kind donations from Bandwidth and NomoRobo. Reaves is a member of the Communications Fraud Control Association, ACM, IEEE and the USENIX association.