Robocall Mitigation for Service Providers with YouMail

Solving the Illegal Robocalling Problem at its Source

Illegal robocalling continues to plague consumers, more than interrupting with nuisance calls about automotive extended warranties, they have become the point of entry for scammers that prey on consumers.

“4.3 Billion robocalls were placed in October 2020 – that’s 13 per person in the US” – YouMail Robocall Index

“Nearly 50% of IC Mobile Traffic will be scam calls…” – First Orion

“Unwanted calls – including illegal and spoofed robocalls – are the FCC’s top consumer complaint and our top consumer protection priority”  – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

Falsification (or spoofing) of caller-ID information is a favorite deception used by illegal robocallers and scammers to get their victims to answer the call. Whether the call appears to be from a neighbor, a bank, utility or government agency, consumers often fall for the deception, costing millions of dollars per year in fraud.

Responding to this, the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have enacted a number of rulings, including the TRACED (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) Act.

TRACED Act – The Objectives

A key requirement of the TRACED Act specifies that any service provider that facilitates access to the public network shall implement a illegal robocall mitigation solution by June 2021.  This is widely interpreted to include traditional TSPs, hosted IP-PBX, and xCaaS providers that provide access to the public network.

Why force the service providers to stop illegal robocalls?

Illegal robocalls originate from many different sources, but in the end, service providers are a conduit for illegal robocalls into the North American wholesale telecommunications network.   If the service provider closest to the source of the illegal calls can detect and block the calls at their origin, the remainder of the telecommunications network will be spared from carrying or blocking the illegal traffic.

Stopping calls at their source also makes prosecution easier by documenting the abuse and simplifying the trace back.

A Robocall Mitigation Solution for Service Providers

How can a TSP or xCaaS providers quickly come into compliance and provide robocall mitigation?

TelcoBridges and YouMail have teamed to deliver a pre-integrated solution for both SIP and TDM operators, detecting and deflecting illegal robocalls at their source.

For SIP Service Providers

 Figure 1: ProSBC/YouMail for SIP Networks

For SIP-based telecom service providers, use of TelcoBridges ProSBC and YouMail RoboCall APIs are integrated together as shown in Figure 1.

Using a provided ProSBC routing script, calls from the softswitch bound to the upstream wholesale operator are screened for potential illegal robocall behavior.   The originating calling number is sent via an API to YouMail’s AI-powered database for a risk assessment.   Within milliseconds, the YouMail API returns a SpamRisk Score, which yields one of three results:

0 = OK – The caller is low-risk and is not suspected of causing illegal RoboCalls

1 = Caution – the caller is suspected of some spam calls

2 = Danger – the caller is highly suspect

The resulting scores can then be used in routing decisions within ProSBC, directing good calls on to the wholesale operator, deflecting suspicious callers for further screening, or blocking known high-risk calls.

Benefits:

The benefits of the TelcoBridges/YouMail integration includes:

  • Ease of Implementation – Inserting ProSBC into the call flow eliminates the need for major upgrades to existing systems
  • Compliance – Quickly meet FCC robocaller mitigation requirements
  • Flexible Deployment Options – can be deployed in the service provider network or cloud
  • Scalable Business Model – allowing service providers to “ramp up” their robocaller mitigation as they migrate and grow
  • Highly reliable – based on carrier-class reliable software and hardware systems

Learn More:

More on TelcoBridges’ ProSBC and TMG media gateways:  www.prosbc.com & VoIP media gateways

More on YouMail API at:  data.youmail.com

Next Steps:

Complete the form below to request a consultation with our experts who can evaluate and make recommendations on your specific situation: