Call Labeling
What is Call Labeling?
A call label is a description that overwrites the default Caller ID on an inbound phone call, such as “Scam Likely” or “Spam Risk”. Call labeling is meant to reflect the intent of the call and provide a warning to consumers if the labeling party believes the call is potentially suspicious.
Who creates call labels?
In the US, most call labeling is applied by the major mobile carriers on calls made to their mobile subscribers. This includes labels like “scam likely” when the carrier’s analysis has indicated potentially risky behavior or malicious activity. The major US mobile carriers partner with specific companies, commonly called analytics engines, to evaluate and assess the reputation of the call and the calling party’s number:
- AT&T partners with Hiya
- T-Mobile partners with First Orion
- Verizon partners with TNS
These analytics engines provide information to their partnered carrier(s) to make a determination and finalize call labeling.
What factors impact phone number reputation?
Mobile carriers have not released specific details about the factors impacting their reputation scoring systems. However, scores are typically influenced by consumer complaints or feedback, call volume, answer rate, and call history, among other criteria.
When improper call labeling happens on new phone numbers, it is frequently due to a lack of call history. This makes it difficult for the carriers to anticipate your calling patterns, so regular use could be flagged as a potential deviation and indicator for spam/scam.
How can I get in contact with a carrier or analytics partner to resolve inaccurate call labeling?
Finding the mobile carrier(s) and/or analytic engine(s) responsible for your call label is the first step to resolving an improper spam label. You’ll want to begin by identifying which US mobile carrier network provides service to the recipient(s) that observed the call label—where typically the recipient is your customer. If you’re unsure, you can try to call individuals (with their knowledge and permission) who have mobile service on each of the 3 major US mobile carriers and observe the result to see where your calls may be appearing with a label.
Once you’ve identified where your number has been assigned an improper call label, you can begin the remediation process by reaching out to the associated carriers and analytic engines:
- For call labels appearing with AT&T, contact: www.att.com/reviewmycalllabel
- For call labels appearing with T-Mobile, contact: https://callreporting.t-mobile.com/
- For call labels appearing with Verizon, contact: https://www.voicespamfeedback.com/vsf/
→ Sound like a headache and time-consuming process? It is.
Another option is to work with a provider who offers a solution for call labeling remediation such as Number Reputation Management. Beyond remediation, this type of service may also include features like phone number registration, call label monitoring, and threshold alerting.
While far less common, individual consumers may also have installed third-party over-the-top applications on their devices to label or block incoming calls. Asking the recipient whether they’ve installed any third-party applications to label or block incoming calls can be helpful in identifying any other potential sources for the call label.
