Oh great, spam is on the rise

Anyone else have 15 voicemails about how the FBI is looking into their car’s extended warranty? Juliet said she hasn’t had a car in 7 years, yet that’s her No. 1 spam call.

How about spam texts? The average American got ~42 of those in March.

If it wasn’t clear, the spam business is booming, with spam texts and calls up 58% and 32%, respectively, in 2021, per RoboKiller. Some other numbers:

• In 2020, the FCC saw a 146% increase in text message complaints.
• There are instances of people getting spammed into FaceTime group calls.
• Some are getting spammed by their own phone numbers.

As a result, RoboKiller estimates Americans have been swindled out of  $10.1B by spam texts, and $30.3B by calls.

Is anyone… working on this?

Kinda. In 2021, the FCC worked with carriers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN technological framework — literally inspired by James Bond — to enhance caller ID authentication, but to mixed success. More recently, the FCC began focusing on robotexts.

Bonus: Here’s a funny clip about a comedian’s extremely detailed response to a spammer.