Why do my Numbers Show Scam Likely

It's a common frustration for dialer platforms and businesses to find their calls labeled as "Spam Likely", especially when they've obtained permission from the recipients. The FCC has mandated major carriers to shield consumers from spam calls. However, this approach has inadvertently tagged genuine businesses as potential spam.

Regardless of where you procure your numbers, if you're making calls over VOIP, you've likely grappled with this "Spam" label. While there are sites to register your company and list the DIDs, achieving consistent Spam Tag removal remains a challenge. Over time, the lifespan of a Spam-free tag has dwindled significantly.

At TrackDrive, we're committed to ensuring your numbers remain clear, boosting answer rates for your calls.  Let's first understand some terminology that most think is all one synonym for how calls become “Spam Likely”:

1) Attestation (Outbound Part of Call): You will often hear of this in terms of “How My Call is Signed”, which is referring to a SIP Header field that carriers thru from Carrier to Carrier indicating the trust level of the company starting the call.  

• A Level Attestation: If TrackDrive has rented a number from a VOIP Provider who is also the company who is going to complete the call, that would have an “A Level” Attestation.
• B Level Attestation: If TrackDrive is completing a call using a number they did not rent from the VOIP Company (for example calling from a consumer's phone number to a buyer), that would be marked as “B Level” Attestation.
• C Level Attestation: The last level of attestation would never be related to TrackDrive and its VOIP Providers, as that is the “C Level” of Attestation, which means the company doesn't trust the call, but will pass it along with C or No Attestation, but as we begin a call, we are at the front of the SIP Header creation and would always be trusted by our providers and at worst get a B Level Attestation because we didn't rent the number we are calling with from the provider.

2) Reputation** (Inbound Part of Call): Reputation is the tracking of your call tendencies as either aggressive or receiving heavy complaints to the phone carriers in which marking your calls as SPAM or SPAM likely is warranted.

3)Branding** (Inbound Part of Call): Branding is where you pay per call to get your company name and/or logo to show as the phone is ringing on the consumer's phone.

**NOTE: Since the reputation and branding functions happen right before the consumer’s phone rings, it doesn’t matter where you bought the number or where the call started. The terminating carrier simply tracks the number’s reputation and queries branding providers for any name/logo to display. This makes spam reputation management and branding services completely separate from the process of buying phone numbers. The carriers don’t know (or care) where you obtained the number — they only inspect inbound calls to their subscribers to determine reputation status and whether branding should be applied.

Outbound Compliance:

Attestation: The FCC introduced the Stir/Shaken method to allow VOIP Providers and Wireless Carriers to verify if a number is being used by its rightful owner. On TrackDrive, we ensure that every call we place is properly certified, ensuring it reaches its intended recipient.

Receiving Phone Carriers:

Many wonder how Spam Tagging occurs. Major Wireless Carriers partner with Reputation Companies to monitor phone numbers dialing their users. Here's a breakdown:

The source of your numbers or your dialing platform is less relevant than ensuring you either invest in Spam Tag Remediation/Mitigation or Call Branding. Both methods can remove the Spam Tag, provided you adhere to good dialing practices.

REPUTATION - Mitigation vs Remediation:

Mitigation is the process in which the carriers are informed directly that the numbers will not be used for Branding at all, and the Vetted Companies who can participate in the Mitigation process will not have their numbers checked with the Reputation Providers above, but rather have the numbers just be trusted and marked as VERIFIED.

Remediation is the process where the Reputation Providers above are informed of the company who is using the number and the number is requested to be marked spam free.  With remediation, the better the company you use for spam tag removal, the more likely it is that Spam shows up less often, but it will show up quite often and need to be removed again (this is the process of Remediation).
 

Analogy:  Remediation is like having an office building that gets tagged with spray paint every night, but you go out and pressure wash it every morning to try to keep that wall clean, but it is just going to get tagged with paint again tonight.  With mitigation, no spray paint can even get close to your building.

Not all of the Branding Companies have the ability to do a Pre-Call Webhook to inform them you want a call Branded; but rather, will Brand and Charge for every single call ringing a phone with that DID.  To avoid being charged for every single call you make outbound, TrackDrive recommends that you have two sets of numbers:

• Spam Tag Mitigation Only
  • This will allow you to have a flat fee per number to dial Spam Tag Free.
  • TrackDrive recommends for the Spam Tag Mitigation Only DIDs, that you pay the one time fee to register the CNAM (Caller Name) you want shown if the Caller is paying for the CallerID Service to show the registered Caller Name.
• Spam Tag Mitigation + Branding
  • This is just a separate set of numbers, that you list with the Mitigation Company but also with the Branding Company.  But keep in mind these numbers will be charged on every inbound call the carrier sees, so it is suggested that you use them strategically like on calls 1, 2, 6 and 10 for example

Below is Pricing and what Mitigation and Branding looks like on iOS and Android phones, now and in the future. 

Learn more about Reputation and Branding at VerifiedCallerID.com