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Summary:
- Understand the STIR/SHAKEN framework to authenticate call identities and avoid being marked as scam likely.
- Recognize the impact of reputational analytics on your phone number's risk score and its visibility to consumers.
- Implement strategies to lower the risk of being flagged, such as maintaining consistent call volume and call behavior.
- Partner with services like PhoneBurner to better navigate compliance with regulations and improve the quality of your outbound calls.
- Stay informed and adapt to the evolving telecommunications landscape to protect your business's reputation and consumer trust.
Scam likely flags show up on phones every day—and no one answers those calls.
They’ve become a fact of life thanks to spammers, spoofers, and robocallers, prompting action from the FCC, major carriers, and third-party tech providers.
But in the fight against fraud, legitimate businesses are getting caught in the crossfire. Even if your calls are legitimate and wanted your number can still be flagged.
We’ve spent years studying the factors that impact number reputation. This guide shares what we’ve learned—and gives you a clear plan to protect your numbers, reduce flags, and rebuild trust with your contacts.
Related Articles:
Understanding the Scope of STIR/SHAKEN
Scam calls have significantly eroded the trust between caller and consumer to the point where reputable businesses are getting hurt. Our own sales team at PhoneBurner has even been marked scam likely at times, and we discuss this topic on anywhere from 60% to 90% of our calls with prospects who are looking for help in getting their calls answered.
Learn More: 8 Tactics to Improve Your Live Answer Rates
This is a massive issue, it costs the public (and businesses) a lot of money, and it’s not unique to the United States. Check out some of the statistics from our infographic for more:
The FCC implemented STIR/SHAKEN on June 30, 2021 to help combat scammers and number spoofing and restore lost trust in phone communications. In some ways that worked.
That’s because STIR/SHAKEN verifies your business’ identity and your authorization to use the phone number being displayed on a call recipient's phone. On the flip side, it makes it harder for spammers to spoof numbers they don’t own to make calls – a common practice.
In order to convey the authenticity of the identity of your number, STIR/SHAKEN can display a verification indicator on the device called. For example, iPhone users will notice a checkmark box next to verified contacts in their device:
Even if you don’t personally recognize the number that’s calling you, this verification icon means the number calling you is from a source who is authorized to use that number. If it’s a scammer or spoofer, they won’t have this indicator, and yes, the calls are far more likely to be flagged as spam.
Unfortunately, many believed that STIR/SHAKEN, on its own, would ensure that a legitimate business making outbound calls would not be labeled spam or scam likely. And that, unfortunately, is not the case.
The verification and validation of the source and identity of a call is definitely a good thing, but it is only one factor that goes into whether a call is flagged as scam likely.
Why Does my Number Show Up as Scam Likely?
The question remains: why is my legitimate number being flagged as scam likely?
The answer: in short, reputational analytics.
The major carriers are partnered with analytics engines that each have their own distinct algorithms to determine risk and reputation of your phone number.
In other words, being flagged on one carrier, doesn’t always mean you’re flagged on another.
Analytics engines analyze a wide variety of call pattern that produce an overall risk score for your number. The higher the risk score, the more likely your number will be flagged as spam or scam likely on a recipient's phone.
How Your Risk Score Is Calculated
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Some of the factors that impact your risk score are:
- Having an inconsistent volume of calls from the same number:
Carriers like consistency, not numbers that are all over the place in terms of activity - Cold starting numbers, where brand new numbers suddenly make a high volume of calls
Because spammers rotate numbers, carriers don’t trust brand new numbers, especially when they go from dormant to high activity - Short-duration calls, which are typically under five seconds
Understandably, super short calls signify hangups and dropped calls, a clear sign of nuisance - Double/Triple calling (dialing the same number back to back)
This technique, which many use to increase live answers, is seen as nuisance-like and gets flagged by the carriers - Too many calls that are ignored calls or sent straight to voicemail
This call pattern is a signal that calls are unwanted, increasing risk of spam flags - Consistently short conversations Wanted calls typically result in longer conversations. When too many answered calls terminate quickly, it’s a sign that callers are not interested
- Call recipients manually blocking/flagging your number as spam
Contacts blocking your number or reporting you as spam is clear evidence your calls are unwanted - Dialing inactive and unassigned numbers
Clean, up-to-date contact lists matter. If you consistently call inactive and unassigned numbers it’s a clear sign you’re using bad data and that your calls are unwanted.
These are just some of the factors that contribute to increased spam risk. Analytics engines are constantly evolving to do a better job of predicting behavior and call patterns that signify interest or a lack thereof.
So, the important question here really isn’t: “Why are my calls being flagged scam likely?”
What we should really ask is: “What else can I do to avoid being flagged scam likely?”
How to Protect Your Numbers from Flags
Keeping your numbers clean and trusted means more of your calls will be answered.
At a high-level, there are some basic steps every business or outreach professional can take to protect their numbers. The goal of this endeavor is to avoid the vicious cycle of rotating and replacing numbers every time they are flagged - and the great expense, disruption of callbacks and operations, and reputational damage that comes with it.
Following the guidelines on this infographic, you can build trusted numbers that deliver exceptional answer rates over the long-term.
A trusted number is a valuable business asset.
Here's what to do:
Steps for Reducing Your Risk Score
- Register your phone numbers with the FreeCallerRegistry
- Avoid call behaviors that carrier algorithms associate with nuisance calls
- Monitor your numbers for flags
- Remediate the flags directly with the carriers (don't replace the number!)
- Leverage analytics to identify issues and seize opportunities to boost answer rates
Want your numbers to be registered and monitored? Wish an expert would work on remediating any and all flags on your behalf (without you ever having to ask)?
This process can be done for you with ARMOR®.
Additional Tips to Reduce Scam Likely Flags
The sheer number of variables used to determine risk factors on your number can be complex and overwhelming. Honestly, it’s a lot for anyone to stay on top of.
To top it off, there’s no guaranteed way to ensure you’ll never be flagged. But that's OK. False flags can be contested and remediated with the carriers.
We’ve put together a checklist of tactics and strategies that can help reduce the chances your numbers will be flagged in the first place. It takes into account the importance of reputational analytics and the relationship they have with the STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID Authentication framework.
We've also outlined a separate blog post that details what tactics the scammers are using, what you should avoid, and specific strategies you can implement to improve live answer rates for your team.
Use this checklist to help establish visibility into the reputation of your phone numbers, protect your brand identity, and, most importantly, retain your consumer’s trust. Here’s a quick glance at what’s inside:
- Purchase Numbers from PhoneBurner
- Secure A-Level Attestation for Your Numbers
- Monitor Your Numbers
- Don’t Delete Numbers
- Replace Old Numbers Only When Necessary
- Add Your Numbers to Free Caller Registry
- Maintain Consistent Number Usage and Call Volume
- Use Smart Calling Discipline
- Don’t Ignore the Do Not Call List
Check out the full list for much more actionable information on how to accomplish these things and external resources to use to do it.
Editor’s Note: This checklist will live in a Google Doc, which our team will regularly update with the latest research and best practices as the industry changes. That way, you can focus on what matters most: your business.
Learn the Game, Improve Your Odds
There’s no way to guarantee that legitimate calls will avoid spam or scam likely flags entirely—but you can take clear steps to reduce the risk.
Start by understanding how STIR/SHAKEN works alongside the reputational analytics used to assess your number’s risk score. Then, make sure you’re using a power dialing platform like PhoneBurner that can help you protect your numbers and optimize answer rates.
Keep testing your calling strategy and use real data to guide decisions. Every business is different, so what works for one may not work for another.
We’re committed to helping you build more high-quality connections. Stay tuned as we continue to share what we learn in this evolving landscape.
(And yes, I got two scam likely calls while writing this. No joke.)
Editor’s Note: This post is not legal advice. Please consult your attorney with any legal questions about your specific situation or compliance with regulations mentioned here.
