Robocalls, scam texts are frustrating. How you can fight back
FORT LAUDERDALE - With the 2024 political campaign season behind us, robocalls and texts will be slowing down.
But they aren't gone all together.
A new report found phone companies aren't doing enough to stop the pesky disruptions.
"If I recognize it's a scam, I just hang up," Victoria Robinson said.
Like many people, Robinson despises sifting through unknown calls and texts. However, she feels she has no choice since she's searching for a job in Fort Lauderdale.
"I got to pick it up because I don't know if it might recognize the spam, and it's not," Robinson added. "Maybe it's an employer. I'm trying to find a job."
George Cedeno said they are "made up as if they are professional, from professional establishments,."
Cedeno said he gets more than 10 spam calls daily and many unwanted texts.
He showed CBS News Miami a recent one.
"It's frustrating," Cedeno said. "You're blocking, you're putting on silent, you're putting on all kinds of, you know, things like that."
But the calls keep coming.
A report by the watchdog group US PIRG claims more than 50% of phone companies need to do more to prevent spam calls and texts as mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. The report said only 47% completed the installation of anti-robo technology.
CBS News reached out to the FCC, which says it's incorrect to state most providers are not complying.
Hhere are some steps you can take to block the spammers:
- Visit DoNotCall.gov and register your number.
- AT&T users can install an ActiveArmor Mobile Security app
- Verizon users can also adjust spam filter settings to auto-block and where to send blocked calls.
- And while it won't stop the call from coming in, you can always block the number that does – to prevent repeat calls or texts.
Even the most knowledgeable can fall victim to a potential texting scam.
"I'm also in the IT business," said a man who goes by Kevin, whom CBS News Miami met in Fort Lauderdale on Las Olas Boulevard. "That's why I'm aware a little bit. But even then I got even myself a scam case. I'm more alert but still, you know, I had of this kind of situation."
Scam calls have slightly declined since the law went into effect, but scam texts are on the rise, nearly tripling this year to 19 billion per month. The FCC only adopted its first rules focused on scam texting last year.