Nobody likes spam calls.
106,306 Canadians reported fraud in 2021; $380 million was lost as a result. While not all spam calls are dangerous, there is a real risk of fraud when interacting with unknown callers. Whether it’s robots claiming to be the CRA or scammers from “Microsoft” trying to steal your money, unwanted calls are never appreciated. Even worse, it can often be difficult to avoid these calls! The only way to determine if a call is legitimate is to pick up the phone and answer, which not only wastes your time, but signals to the spam caller that the number is active.
Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem — and it leverages a technology you already know of and have likely used before.
Businesses regularly have systems that allow callers to choose where their call is routed based on a list of options. These “digital receptionists” use a system called Interactive Voice Response, where a caller is given a list of destinations and then gets to choose where their call ends up. This technology is useful for businesses, but as a residential client of Three Layer Solutions you can use this technology to protect yourself and your family from annoyance or even potential fraud.
Through our Robocall Blocking feature, we will attach a digital menu to your home phone number that prompts users to press a certain key in order to connect the call. The key itself is chosen randomly, but when the caller presses that key, the call will be forwarded to your home phone in the regular way.
The advantage of this system is that robocalls are unable to respond to these prompts, and so the system will terminate the call. Human spam callers can get through, but the extra step can dissuade the lazy. For those spam callers who are determined to reach you, you can always block their numbers manually through our Caller ID Filtering feature.
I set this system up for my parents, and in the first week alone, 17 spam calls had been blocked. That’s over two calls every day that my parents didn’t have to answer, saving them time and frustration. They tell me they love the peace and quiet compared to having the phone ringing all the time before they started blocking spam calls — because their previous service provider didn’t give them this option!
There is more to life than robocalls and lazy scammers, however: what about friends and family? Surely you don’t want to inconvenience them by forcing your frequent callers to jump through a hoop whenever they want to reach you! Fortunately, this problem is also solved through our Caller ID Filtering feature! You can add entries for friends and family to have them skip the spam blocker, so their calls get through immediately without having to navigate any extra menus.
We are always happy to enable this feature on your account. Give us a call or e-mail support@threelayer.ca to start blocking robocalls and discouraging scammers!