US breaks up IRS phone scam operation
I worked on countering phone scams and robocalls at the Federal Communications Commission for over a year. This operation was a big win and an impressive international collaboration.<p>That said, the robocall problem is getting worse, not better. Robocall volume is at an all-time high: <a href="https://robocallindex.com/" rel="nofollow">https://robocallindex.com/</a><p>In many respects, the problem of telephone spam today is similar to the problem of email spam in the early 2000s. Litigating against spammers had limited efficacy, so the community developed blacklists, better filtering, and stronger authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC).<p>Until the major carriers get serious about similar steps, especially filtering and authentication (i.e. SHAKEN and STIR), these fraudulent calls won't stop. And, in the interim, vulnerable populations will continue to be disproportionately victimized.