In an era where smartphones serve as our primary communication devices, a sinister trend has emerged that threatens the very foundation of voice communication.
The proliferation of scam calls and fraudulent SMS messages has reached unprecedented levels, leaving consumers wary of answering unrecognized numbers and creating significant challenges for legitimate businesses trying to reach their customers.
This growing aversion to taking calls represents a growing problem for businesses trying to reach customers: they can't connect, literally.
For anyone who has ever tried sales, you know that getting someone onboard won't work with a voicemail—and that's if the person even listens to it.
Thus, this fundamental breakdown in trust in one of our most essential communication channels, voice calls, represents a huge problem for business prospects.
But what exactly are businesses dealing with, and how can they cut through the noise to confidently reach their customers? To find out more, UC Today spoke with Tracey Wright, Chair of Comms Council UK (CCUK).
Why Phone Scams Are Surging
The dramatic rise in phone-based fraud can be attributed to several converging factors.
"There are multiple factors at play here," Wright explained. "Firstly, great progress has been made in reducing the rate of other types of fraudulent activity, such as via mail, meaning that scammers have adapted their behavior."
This adaptive behavior highlights how fraud, like water, tends to follow the path of least resistance. As traditional avenues close, scammers have simply redirected their efforts toward more vulnerable channels.
Equally, technology has played a significant role in this shift.
"Advancing technologies mean that fraudsters have been able to broaden their geographical and technological reach, all at a lower cost,"
Wright noted. "
The shift to digital calls has made it much easier for scammers to manipulate call data, which in turn makes it far simpler to impersonate someone else."
This technological evolution has coincided with our increased dependence on mobile devices, creating a bigger market for fraudsters as mobiles are now more popular than desktops. Thus, the method of deploying scams has adapted to more mobile-associated activities.
As Wright explained, "These are some of the richest engagement channels for bad actors to reach their audience, as the genesis of a fraud or scam is no different from a cleverly constructed marketing campaign."
Such is the prevalence of scam calls that, already by 2020, the think tank Pew Research Center found 80 percent of Americans don’t generally answer their phone when an unknown number calls.
Indeed, the US government agency, the FCC, has issued official advice to consumers, telling them not to answer calls from unknown numbers and that if you do answer a call, you should "hang up immediately.”
The Hidden Business Impact
The growing prevalence of scam calls isn't just concerning for consumers—it poses a significant threat to VoIP providers and legitimate businesses that rely on phone communication to reach customers.
"Trust is a big issue," Wright explained.
"We hear time and time again that consumers are no longer answering calls as they have lost confidence in this method of communication. If people aren't taking calls, genuine people stop making them—and that is bad for our industry, bad for consumers, and the business economy in general."
This erosion of trust creates a vicious cycle. As consumers receive more fraudulent calls, they become less likely to answer unrecognized numbers.
This decreased engagement makes phone communication less effective for legitimate businesses.
Equally, Wright fears the shift may drive businesses from voice to other communication channels.
"Distrust in voice and messaging services may also drive customers away from regulated communications services to alternative communication services and social platforms," Wright explained.
Omnichannel capabilities are becoming a big selling point for many UC providers. Alongside a changing user preference in how consumers prefer to communicate, channels like WhatsApp allow companies to create business pages with branding to assure customers they are talking to official channels.
Yet, Wright highlights how this may be shifting from one issue to another.
"These other channels lack consumer and regulatory protection, paradoxically placing them at greater potential risk," Wright warned.
Protecting Legitimate Communications
For VoIP providers, this situation presents unique challenges.
