Silver Star has been working hard to ensure harmful and illegal Robocalls are stopped at the source – before they ever reach you!
As your voice service provider, it’s important to us that we share how we take all reasonable efforts to stop illegal robocalls from reaching you from our network. We’re able to do that in two ways.
First, for most customers, we have implemented STIR/SHAKEN (or Secure Telephony Identity Revisited and Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) call authentication. STIR/SHAKEN is a method that has been developed under the direction of the FCC to authenticate and verify that outgoing calls are valid.
This means that every outbound call placed on a line serviced by the Silver Star network sends information from a digital signature to an authentication service to filter out spoofed numbers (which may appear local but are using a fake number), or calls whose source cannot be identified. If this all checks out, the call is deemed “legitimate” and goes through as intended. If not, the call is blocked, and penalties may be assessed, up to and including service termination, per our Terms of Service.
The second set of ways we significantly reduce the number of illegal robocalls is through our Robocall Mitigation Plan.
That plan involves:
- Performing manual and random analysis on calls originating on our network – especially when there is high-volume traffic and/or when patterns consistent with robocall campaigns are present.
- Gathering specific information from commercial customers in order to prevent unlawful outbound calls.
- Offering Caller ID.
- Discontinuing service for offenders of illegal Robocalling per our Terms of Service
- Educating customers on spoofing and ways in which to verify callers*
- Continually evaluating this mitigation strategy
- Populating the Reassigned Numbers Database, which telemarketers pay to use in order to reduce calls to reassigned numbers.
None of us want spam or spoof calls, and these methods have proven successful in decreasing the number of Robocalls consumers receive. If you have any questions about your Voice service or our Robocall Mitigation plan, please give us a call at 877.883.2411 or visit SilverStar.com and chat with us.
*Here are some tips for your own Robocall Mitigation:
- Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. Let them go to voicemail.
- If the caller claims to be from a legitimate company or organization, hang up and call them back using a valid number found on their website or on your latest bill if you do business with them.
- If you answer and the caller (often a recording) asks you to press a button to stop receiving calls or asks you to say “yes” in response to a question, just hang up. Scammers often use these tricks to identify, and then target live respondents, or to use your “yes” to apply unauthorized charges on your bill.
- Be Aware: Caller ID showing a “local” number no longer means it is necessarily a local caller.
- If you answer and the caller asks for payment using a gift card, it’s likely a scam. Legitimate organizations like law enforcement will not ask for payment with a gift card.
- If you receive a scam call, file a complaint with the FCC Consumer Complaint Center by selecting the “phone” option and selecting “unwanted calls.” The data collected helps to track trends and supports FCC enforcement investigations.
- If you have lost money because of a scam call, contact your local law enforcement agency for assistance.
- Consider registering your telephone numbers with the National Do Not Call Registry. Lawful telemarketers use this list to avoid calling consumers on the list.