T-Mobile’s Scam Shield identified or blocked over 21 billion scam calls in 2021

Recently, T-Mobile has published the 2021 Scam and RoboCall report detailing the significant increase in the number of scam calls on its network. The report states that the Carrier Scam Shield will detect or block more than 21 billion scam calls in 2021.

With this in mind, approximately 700 calls per second are blocked or detected throughout the year. T-Mobile adds that by 2021 there will be a 116% increase in total scam calls.

If you do not know, the Scam Shield app is available to all T-Mobile customers for T-Mobile and Metro. Additionally, in this report, T-Mobile had the lowest scam traffic in January 2021, with nearly 1.1 billion calls being considered a “scam opportunity”.

Volumes doubled as of November 2021, when 2.5 billion calls were listed as scams. 2020 is a very slow year for spammers due to carrier notes (via) quarantines and other restrictions.

On the other hand, it is reported that spam calls on weekends decreased by up to 80% compared to weekends. The carrier also faced some of the most tried-and-true scandals of the year. Fake vehicle warranty scams top the list, accounting for over 51% of T-Mobile’s potential scam volume.

About 10% of scams involve scammers pretending to be from the Social Security Office, while 9% pretend to be a wireless provider. T-Mobile says some are even pretending to be IRS, credit card companies, or health insurance providers.

Of course, scammers also have a holiday. T-Mobile saw the lowest scam volume of the year on Easter (April 4). States like Texas, Florida, Arizona and Georgia face the most scams of the year. The carrier said there could be a significant reduction in scam calls from December 23, 2021.