Why would my calls be labeled as “Potential Spam” or “Scam Likely” or with some other negative flag?

Why would my calls be labeled as “Potential Spam” or “Scam Likely” or with some other negative flag?

Since 2019, the major telephone carriers have also developed their own systems to automatically protect all of their customers without the need to sign up for a special program or download a particular software. As a consequence, more people than ever are receiving notifications on their phones that accompany incoming calls from unknown numbers, warning them that they should be wary of answering.
For these carrier-wide consumer protections, the decisions about whether and how to display an incoming call as potentially problematic is up to the recipient’s carrier — and each carrier has their own approach. That means you could use the same phone number to call two different people on two different carriers, and one could see your number appear normally while the other could be warned that your call is “Potential Spam,” for example.

So how are they deciding which incoming numbers to flag?
The precise formula each uses is not something they spell out publicly in great detail. However, there are some variables that are believed to be factors:
  1. The number of calls per hour and/or number of calls per day that are being made by a single number
  2. The rate of successful connections
  3. Whether or not (and how often) recipients of calls from that number have actually reported the number as spam or as being used as part of a scam.

Understand Where and How your Number got Flagged!
Call blocking / labeling currently happens at the recipient’s carrier. Carriers watch for how many calls they get concurrently or overall from a unique phone number, if its a disconnected number, and are beginning to use caller ID reputation registries.  Additionally the end user may also be using various smartphone apps that crowdsource reports of nuisance calls.
Even if you don't do telemarketing, scammers can hijack your number and ruin your business phone numbers reputation. See our advice below for both telemarketers and business owners.

General Business Strategies
  1. Call responsibly. Don’t call the same lead 10 times a day. 
  2. Don’t hang up on people if you’re running a dialer. Maintain a < 3% drop rate
  3. Make sure people can reach you if they call back. 
  4. Register your number with the major caller ID reputation registries

Register your number with the major caller ID reputation registries


  • Verizon

    Verizon maintains an independent database for their Call Filter App

    Calling parties and customers who believe a call has been mislabeled as spam or blocked may provide feedback via the link below

    https://voicespamfeedback.com/vsf/


    T-Mobile and associated apps

    on CallTransparency.com you will need to manually enter each number or upload a CSV file of you numbers  and provide you business information. They will call them to confirm they can reach the company name you provided. Make sure all of the numbers you submit, go to a welcome recording, IVR, voicemail or human that will say your company name for them to hear and confirm.

    Register With CallTransparency.com

  • AT&T and associated apps

     AT&T and their apps use the Hiya 3 company to manage the reputation and verification of business caller ID.

    On the site You will open a support ticket and provide a website that lists those numbers for you company.

    they use a web crawler for numbers must be in text / html and not a picture. For multiple numbers you will need a phone directory that lists each user or phone number you want to verify.


    Register With Hiya

        

    First Orion, Hiya and Transaction Network Services

      First Orion, Hiya and Transaction Network Services (TNS) have designed a streamlined telephone number registration process for businesses, non-profits, first responders, and other call originators. Legitimate entities will now have access to a single, unified registration process with the analytics services that support the major wireless carriers in the United States, impacting more than 200 million mobile subscribers.


    Register at FreeCallerRegistry