Carrier transparency is made up of three basic elements: Call blocking efforts, call labels and flags. It's important to note that these are not foolproof and sometimes will not work as intended. However, they are a step in the right direction in the quest for the telecommunications industry to prevent spam and fraud calls.

Call Labels From Carriers

Call labels from carriers provide warning labels during incoming calls to help consumers decide whether or not they want to answer them, ultimately making it easier for consumers to avoid predatory calls. Warning labels include messages like:

• Fraud Risk
• High Risk
• Potential Scam
• Potential Fraud
• Scam Likely

Call labels may also include intent labels that tell people where a phone call is coming from. Intent labels can even specify departments within an organization to communicate to customers why someone is calling them. These can include things like "account services" or "telemarketing".

Other examples of intent labels are:

• Survey
• Non-profit
• Prison
• Political
• Charity
• Informational

When used properly, call labels contribute to carrier transparency in ways that benefit consumers and organizations. Unfortunately, carriers can apply inaccurate labels to numbers, which can make it harder for businesses to reach leads and customers. However, this has been addressed with STIR/SHAKEN, to some extent, which now requires carriers to provide a point of contact that lets number owners dispute inaccurate and misleading call labels.

Call-Blocking Notifications

Sometimes, as a caller, your call may be blocked, and you aren't sure why. SIP headers now include call blocking notification numbers that can provide some insight into why your number got blocked. Currently, blocked calls use the following SIP codes:

• SIP 603: Indicates that the call was blocked with no explanation.
• SIP 607: Indicates that the recipient rejected the call.
• SIP 608: Indicates that an upstream intermediary rejected the call (contact information is provided for remediation).

As you can see, you don't get a ton of information from SIP Code 603, but the industry is taking steps to improve that in the near future. With SIP 607 and SIP 608, you can at least gain some insight that you can use to rectify issues and connect with more of your customers.

CNAM Registration With Carriers

Businesses can take proactive measures to increase transparency with consumers by registering with CNAM. CNAM registration with carriers connects your phone number and business information, so that when you call someone with a registered number, your business's information will appear on that person's caller ID display.

However, CNAM is not an automated feature granted to all cellphone users. Plus, there is no centralized database, meaning that the name displayed may vary depending on the database chosen by the receiver's carrier. This is why we recommend Whois by SIPSTACK, which uses the revolutionary Smart CNAM tool.

How SIPSTACK Fights Fraud

Using the latest technology and machine learning, SIPSTACK's systems authenticate all activity in real time against variables that affect your security. When a carrier implements SIPSTACK's Smart CNAM, they are able to customize a threshold for calls to pass through, based on their specific needs. At SIPSTACK we take an active role in ensuring we are building a secure and connected tomorrow. Contact us today to learn how you can protect yourself from spam.