VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a technology that allows users to make calls through a broadband internet connection. This can be helpful for a bunch of reasons, and one of the best is that you don’t need a phone line, as the signal is not the common analog one.
Apart from that, you might end up saving the costs of paying for internet and phone services since you will only need the first.
On the other hand, power outages, connection problems and maintenance on equipment are problems you probably won’t have to face when using a landline.
Asterisk, a telephone operator, has grabbed a portion of the VoIP market, with solutions that fit all kinds of users’ demands. Through voicemail, conference calls, and much more, they deliver their services throughout pretty much the whole national territory.
Nevertheless, most recently, users have been receiving calls from Asterisk numbers and reporting to be scam attempts.
Some have even commented to suffer voice phishing attempts and ended up losing either personal information or even money. Even though most vishing scams target businesses, where the sensitive information might bring more damage, many people have reported scams too.
Should you find yourself amongst those people, bear with us as we walk you through all the relevant information you need to supress or prevent those scam calls.
What Is The Problem With Incoming Calls From Asterisk?
Many criminals attempt to perform their scams under a variety of manners. Some pretend to be a governmental agent, a bank manager, an employee from your company, or even an old friend claiming you owe them money.
Any way it goes, they mean to get money from you – at least most times. Others attempt to extract business information, which they can sell later on, or even pretend to be the bearer of good news and falsely state that you won a lottery prize or a free service from your phone company.
Apart from those attempts, scammers also contact older people, as they can be less aware of the risks, then claim they have kidnapped a family member. In those cases, they usually ask for money in a more indirect way, such as phone or gift cards that they can sell afterwards.
Surely, not every incoming call from Asterisk is a scam, as many telemarketing companies opt for this kind of service for their favourable cost-benefit ratio. In that case all you have to do is endure a sales call and no harm should be done.
As a response to the numerous reports, the company decided to invest in the safety of their services, and through an update, users have an extra layer of security against scam attempts.
Also, according to the U.S. intelligence agencies, criminals make use of a bug to perform thousands of calls in a short period of time. They do so in the attempt of obtaining personal or business information that they can sell to the competition later on.
As it goes, the update is actually effective in preventing these kinds of calls, but there is no 100% safe way to hinder scammers’ attempts yet. So, make sure to get that update and the extra safety features that come with it so you don’t become a target for those criminals.
How Can I Avoid Those Calls?
The first and easiest way people attempted in order to get rid of these undesired and dangerous Asterisk calls was to block the contact number through their phones’ systems. The issue was that, by being a VoIP service, the calling numbers might be easily changed, so users had to keep blocking contacts all the time.
In face of that, the company representants made public the information users needed to permanently prevent receiving those calls. As it goes, the procedure is quite simple, even if it looks a bit tech-savvy. In order to perform this more efficient block, users have to perform the following steps:
• First, reach the Voice Services, then the SPI services.
• Secondly, locate and access the inbound call route and change the parameters therein.
• In the field, type “Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> X_InboundCallRoute : {(xxx):},{ph}” and save.
• That should do it and from then on, all the incoming calls from Asterisk will be directed to the bit bucket.
Once the procedure is successfully completed, any incoming calls the system identifies as an Asterisk one will be instantly blocked. This means your phone won’t even ring when those kinds of calls are incoming.
That should definitely save you at least the trouble of picking up calls in the middle of the night. Additionally, you won’t get the scam attempts that might bring you risks.
Is There Anything Else I Should Do?
Once you get the update that delivers the extra layer of security and perform the changes in the SPI parameters that routes the incoming Asterisk calls to the bit bucket, you should be safe from scams.
Besides that, you can always report the calls to the Federal Trade Commission, which will take a simple call to 1-877-382-4357. This service aims at preventing mostly robocalls and unwanted telemarketing calls, but it can also be used to report scam attempts.
The flip side is that you will need the contact information in order to perform the report and, should you activate the auto-route feature that sends the calls to the bit bucket, it gets harder to reach that information.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, as there are no 100% effective ways to prevent call scams, be aware of the kind of information people can and cannot ask through the phone.
Keep in mind that companies never ask customers for sensitive info over calls, so if you notice the conversation heading that way, hang up immediately and report the contact.
That should keep you safer from scam attempts and, once criminals notice you are aware of their moves, they will most likely choose another number as their next target.
Additionally, by reporting the calls, authorities have a bigger chance of busting out scammers as they can attempt to trace the caller IP and reach their location.
In The End
In this article, we attempted to bring you all the relevant information you need to understand how you should proceed in the event you receive calls from Asterisk numbers.
By taking the measures herein into effect, you will drastically reduce the chances of receiving those scam calls and keep your personal or business information for yourself. So, follow the steps we brought you today and keep yourself and your business safe from scam attempts.
On a final note, should you find out about other relevant information regarding the possibilities of avoiding undesired or scam calls, make sure to let us know.
Leave a message in the comments section telling us all about it and help your fellow readers understand better what they are supposed to do in the even they keep receiving calls from Asterisk numbers.