Robocalls and scam texts are frustrating. How you can defend yourself

FORT LAUDERDALE – With the 2024 political campaign season behind us, robocalls and text messaging are slowing down.

But they didn’t all disappear together.

A new report says phone companies aren’t doing enough to stop the annoying disruptions.

“If I realize it’s a scam, I’ll just hang up,” Victoria Robinson said.

Like many people, Robinson detests sifting through unknown calls and text messages. However, she feels she has no choice as she looks for a job in Fort Lauderdale.

“I have to pick it up because I don’t know if it could detect the spam, and it doesn’t,” Robinson added. “Maybe it’s an employer. I’m trying to find a job.”

George Cedeno said they were “made as if they were professional, by professional institutions.”

Cedeno said he receives more than 10 spam calls and many unsolicited text messages every day.

He said CBS News Miami is a current affairs show.

“It’s frustrating,” Cedeno said. “You block, you do silence, you do all sorts of things, you know, things like that.”

But the calls keep coming.

A report from watchdog group US PIRG found that more than 50% of phone companies are required to do more to prevent spam calls and text messages under FCC guidelines. According to the report, only 47% have completed installing anti-robo technology.

CBS News has reached out to the FCC, which says it is incorrect to claim that most providers are not in compliance.

Here are some steps you can take to block the spammers:

• Visit DoNotCall.gov and register your number.
• AT&T users can install an ActiveArmor Mobile Security app
• Verizon users can also adjust spam filter settings to set automatic blocking and forwarding of blocked calls.
• Even if this doesn’t prevent the incoming call, you can always block the corresponding number – to prevent repeated calls or text messages.

Even the most experienced people can fall victim to a potential SMS scam.

“I’m also in the IT business,” said a man named Kevin, whom CBS News Miami met in Fort Lauderdale on Las Olas Boulevard. “That’s why I’m a little conscious. But even then, I got a fraud case myself. I’m more alert, but I’ve still had situations like this.”

Scam calls have fallen slightly since the law came into force, but fraudulent text messages are on the rise, almost tripling this year to 19 billion per month. Just last year, the FCC passed its first rules focused on fraudulent text messages.