T-Mobile Rolls out “Scam ID” Powered by First Orion

On March 24^th, T-Mobile rolled out their new service, powered in part by First Orion, to flag known scam calls for its users called “Scam ID.” T-Mobile’s move came a day after the FCC put out a press release floating new ways to stop robocalls. Scam calls can cost Americans upwards of billions of dollars every year. With Scam ID, users are safeguarded from these potential threats.

“Scam ID will ID any call that is “likely scam” coming from a number identified by PrivacyStar’s database of scam callers,” according to Grant Castle, VP of engineering services for T-Mobile as quoted by PC Magazine. PrivacyStar is a First Orion service and powers mobile applications that already protect millions of customers.

Subscribers can also opt into “Scam Block,” which uses PrivacyStar’s database to block known scammers from ever reaching a customer’s phone. When customers enable Scam Block, T-Mobile will stop scam calls before they even have the chance to ring. These protections are free, powered by patent-pending technology built right into the Un-carrier’s advanced network by the First Orion database, which means scam blocking works on every single phone on T-Mobile’s network.

“The only thing we block are numbers that have clearly been identified as scam and fraud,” Castle said.

Incoming calls to the T-Mobile network are scanned and analyzed by the recently announced First Orion Network Enterprise Solutions (FONES) for known scam activity. This is a combination of call patterns and activity on billions of calls, along with direct customer feedback, which enables us to immediately tag incoming calls as “Scam Likely” with confidence and protect T-Mobile subscribers.

FONES Cloud and the associated proprietary algorithms are updating phone number information in near real-time, constantly learning to provide the highest level of ongoing customer protection.

Scam ID will roll out for free over the next few weeks, and customers can request it by dialing #664# and hitting the call button in their dialer. To turn on Scam Block, T-Mobile customers can press #662# to activate the service.