Telstra introduces new Scam and Suspicious call alerts directly into Caller ID

I think we’re probably all aligned on this one thing to do with our modern smartphones. We don’t answer calls from numbers we don’t know. Why? Because it’s likely to be a scam. You know it’s true.

Most of the time I’m suspicious of any landline number, but even Aussie mobile numbers can be spoofed and used by scammers to contact Aussies and try to scam them in some way.

While all the telcos are doing the best they can to block the scammers and stop them from getting through, it’s still happening.

To help their customers, Telstra has introcuced a new “Scam Protect” feature which actually highlights potential scam calls before you even get a chance to answer them, but displaying a warning on your smartphone as the incoming caller ID.

There are three different warnings you might see as a Telstra customer:

• ⚠️ Warning: Potential Fraud: This message applies to calls that may be fraudulent, either calling you from a spoofed number (when a scammer falsifies the number to make it look legitimate, so you’re tricked into answering it) or has a suspicious calling pattern. 
• ⚠️ Unverified: Overseas Call: The call appears to be from a local mobile number, but our network detects it’s coming from overseas and may be suspicious. This message only appears for calls deemed suspicious.
• ⚠️ Warning: Suspicious Calling Pattern: Indicates a high volume of incoming traffic from a single number. This is associated with potential spam and means you should be cautious.

This feature is integrated into the Telstra network, and is functioning for Telstra, Boost Mobile and Belong customers, you don’t need to do anything.

It’s part of a range of mechanisms Telstra has put in place over some years, and since rolling out this new feature just three months ago the Warning Messages have applied to over 10 million calls!