M Rafi Ahmed
Technological advancement has both merits and demerits if one goes by the barrage of unsolicited commercial communication received by the customers daily which has become troublesome. More often than not, telemarketing calls besides unsolicited text messages pour in from unknown sources thereby robbing the privacy of the phone-users. Despite blocking the numbers repeatedly, spam calls and messages continue to disturb from various sources.
Though India boasts of being the second largest mobile market across the globe with the distinction of highest mobile data consuming market even while transforming to 5G technology services, customers continue to face the issues of scam calls and pesky messages irrespective of the technological innovation and upgradation. In short, spam callers have infiltrated every day lives of people and all modes of communication.
Spam calls, robocalls or scammers are from telemarketers, who try to sell their products or trick the customers into giving personal or financial information. This scribe just browsed a website to check the credit score. No sooner, there was a bulk of messages offering loans and some financial institutions messaged by saying that ‘Your account has been credited with Rs 1.30 lakh’ and provided a link to accept the offer.
This has been the case everywhere with almost all the customers. Sources said that spam calls can happen when the numbers are sold to a scammer group. The numbers are indiscriminately lifted from online platforms or databases which are public. No doubt spam calls are annoying, intrusive, and sometimes dangerous too. The menace of spam calls and pesky messages in India has been going unabated and has intensified over the last few years post COVID pandemic.To prevent scam calls and messages, the ‘Do Not Disturb’ (DND) option could be used. Android users have several options to block spam calls. Initially, the “Block numbers” feature allows the customers to manually enter numbers that one wants to block. Additionally, users can choose third-party spam-blocking apps from the Google Play Store. More often than not, these apps have a database of spam numbers but can also identify and block numbers for you. Finally, the “Caller ID & Spam” feature in the Phone Settings can alert you about a potential spam call before you answer. Deploying all of these methods will significantly bring down the number of spam calls on your Android device.
Narrating his experience, a customer said, “I used a website to check my credit score for free, and within a few hours, I started getting SMSes about offers and loans. Within the next few days, I started receiving calls, too, some were automated robotic calls, and some were human initiated. All of them were about loans and offers. I am really frustrated and hence seeking help.”
According to a report by Delhi-based consumer research company, LocalCircles, which recorded responses from about 57,000 Indians across varied demographics and locations, about 68 per cent of mobile subscribers, on average, received four or more promotional or spam SMSes daily. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has a free Android app called TRAI DND 3.0 that one can use to block or put the numbers on the DND list. Subscribers can also use a phone helpline number to register complaints.
It may be noted that an SMS always has an operator symbol and a circle like AM means Airtel Mumbai circle, VK means Vodafone Kolkata, JD means Jio Delhi, JX means Jio Karnataka, BT means BSNL Tamil Nadu, VZ means Vodafone Maharashtra and Goa, etc. This will help the subscribers to identify the operator and the circle from where the message has originated.
Subscribers can forward an SMS to the 1909 number. To initiate the process, type in ‘Start’ and choose the appropriate category after the menu option. One can also forward an SMS to 1909 in the following format: Unsolicited Commercial Communications(UCC), XXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy where XXXXXXXXXX is the telephone number or header of the UCC. As of now, there are seven categories- banking and financial products, including credit cards, real estate, education, health, consumer goods and automobiles, communication, broadcasting, entertainment, IT, tourism and leisure, and food and beverage. Better to be cautious about spam calls and messages and to take preventive steps like blocking it totally.
