Likely 1-Ring Scam Calls Can Be Blocked, FCC Says
Voice service providers can block all calls from phone numbers highly likely to be associated with "one-ring scams," per an FCC order Monday. Such calls -- which involve a caller disconnecting after one ring, tricking the called party to call…
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back and incur toll charges, of which the caller gets a cut -- "serve no beneficial purpose," so there's no need to require terminating providers give customers an opportunity to opt out of blocking the calls, it said. The agency said voice providers already are allowed by law to block illegal calls including one-ring scam calls. The order authorized under the Traced Act removes any doubt providers can "use reasonable analytics to identify and block calls that appear to be one-ring scam calls, even if such identification proves to be erroneous in any particular instance." It said blocking won't make providers liable for inadvertently blocking wanted calls and can be done on a network-wide basis. Those protections "will strongly encourage voice service providers to take a more aggressive approach to blocking one-ring scam calls," it said.