When you run a business, you will get targeted for even more robocalls than you could ever imagine. The worst part is that many of these people won’t always be automated calls. Sometimes, they may even start as people who are looking to phish your information as well (claiming they’ll help your business). What’s worse, if you even so much as to have an answering machine or voicemail attached to a robocaller’s call, you’ll end up getting more because they know now that you own a legitimately active phone number.
Fortunately, the FCC is starting to put their foot down more on this, as there have been numerous people who even get scammed because they tried to install a robocall blocker. So how do you stop the robocalls and robotext messages? We’ll explain it here.
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But I Run a Business!
The biggest downfall of many companies when it comes to not getting a handle on the robocalls coming in is that they’re often going to have customers calling in from who knows where and from whatever number that person ended up having. There are workarounds to this, though.
Of course, you shouldn’t answer just anyone’s call if you don’t know the number. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do when it comes to incorporating a customer rap sheet so you can quickly identify callers. If they’re your customers, then more than likely, when they call, they’re your actual customers. If they’re not, then you may have a more serious problem on your hands (like a data breach), or your customers themselves may have been phished for their information.
There are other ways you can make sure you don’t get robocalls as often, such as:
Switch to Voice Over IP Services
Switching to VoIP may rid your business of annoying robocalls and unwanted telephone scams.
Aside from cataloging other numbers, try to avoid incoming phone calls from completely unknown sources. Just because it says it’s a local (United States) number doesn’t always mean it is – sometimes the country code is hidden. One of the best things you can do to combat that is to install a VoIP service in your business.
Please Don’t Believe That They Are a Government Agency.
Your spidey senses should perk up if you receive an unsolicited call from the FBI, IRS, NSA, CIA, or any other 3 letter government agency.
If you aren’t expecting a phone call from a government company, federal agency, or anything like that, then you want to make sure that you call the number and end up verifying that the “agency’s number” is really who they say they are. What’s worse is that callers are even masking their calls using big corporations like Microsoft…
However, many of these agencies aren’t going to call their customers or other people unsolicited – ever. Not the FBI, not the local police department (while sounding foreign), the federal government (like the White House), or even big companies like Microsoft. It’s one thing to get a callback – it’s another to get a call from one of these companies for no reason.
Don’t Fall for the Pressure.
Whatever you say to your current scammer or robocaller will incriminate you somehow. They don’t care what information they get from you – as long as it’s pertinent.
Find Call Blocking Plugins and Software
This robocall chart is from 2017 and has only gone up in the last few years. The picture was taken from the ftc.gov site.
Numerous plugins are legit out there for VoIP servers and apps for your business devices that block robocalls and auto-dialed calls. Make sure you talk to your managed service provider about this, as they may have some solutions for you.
Robocalls are now twice as common as a real call from a live person. The picture was taken from the ftc.gov site.
Another thing you can do is get onto the national Do Not Call List registry. No matter what kind of number you have, this will add your number to the registry to block telemarketing calls. All legit companies will adhere to this federal listing to keep from calling people on this list.
Is There Anything Else I Can Do?
One good thing about hiring a company that can help you switch to VoIP service for a reasonable price is that they’ll set up everything they can for you. Even better, you can get a complete security solution that can help thwart not only robocallers but also keep the cyberattackers and hackers at bay. Many hackers don’t just rely on phone numbers being existent – they can break into your inboxes, voicemail boxes, and much more, and then steal their information this way. Having the right full IT service solution is the best way to provide your own security and keep your customers safe.