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The Ultimate Guide to Trusted Calls

Mitigating Robocalls: How Your Business Can Tackle — and Properly Use — Automated Calls

Robocall Mitigation refers to the strategies and measures employed to reduce the impact of unwanted automated calls, often made in bulk by scammers. The ultimate goal of robocall mitigation is to protect businesses and individuals from scams, fraud, and potential brand impersonation.

Robocalls can be both a boon and a bane for businesses. While they are essential for critical communication such as appointment reminders, they also pose the serious challenges with brand impersonation fraud. In this blog, we discuss how your business can navigate the complexities of mitigating robocalls, properly use automated calls, and protect against brand impersonation.

In this article, we will discuss:

The Double-Edged Sword Of Robocalls For Business

Robocalls — or perhaps the more friendly name of automated calling systems or computer calls — serve essential purposes for many businesses, including appointment reminders, customer updates, and emergency alerts. However, robocalls can also be used maliciously by scammers to perpetrate fraud, perpetuate scams, and engage in brand impersonation. Balancing the benefits of automated calls while mitigating robocalls' negative effects is critical for businesses to maintain trust and protect their reputation.

Understanding And Mitigating Brand Impersonation

Brand impersonation is an ongoing problem driven by robocalls. Scammers spoof a company’s phone number in order to deceive customers by posing as a legitimate business. They then extract either information or money from the customer, frequently leaving the customer unhappy with the original brand. This leads to a loss of trust, damaged reputation, potential legal liabilities, and sometimes direct expenses such as bill challenges.

Common scams include tech support scams (“download this software because you are infected with malware”), vendor scams (fake invoices, fake websites, and more), recruitment scams (we’d like to help you get a new job … just give us your information), and subscription scams (“you’ve been charged for your product, call us to get a refund … and give us your info or credit card to do so.”)

For example, people have reported receiving many emails supposedly from Norton (internet security products) that they have been invoiced for their subscription. There is a line at the bottom suggesting if you want a refund, to call a phone number. When someone calls, they extract information or even a credit card from the caller. Consider someone defrauded by such an email; would they be more or less likely to seek out Norton and buy their product in the future? It’s clear that email scams such as this harm the brand. The same is true of brand impersonation robocalls.

There are a variety of ways for brands to mitigate robocall brand impersonation. The best methods seem to involve actively monitor their brand's online presence while also working with a partner or communication service providers to rapidly identify and shut down unlawful voice and SMS communications. The best solutions also include educating customers on recognizing and reporting suspicious calls.

Filtering Inbound Calls To Minimize Disruption And Risk 

Inbound calls can also be a problem for businesses with high inbound call traffic. Implementing filters to inbound calls can help businesses block unwanted robocalls and minimize disruption. Advanced technologies such as content-based analytics and audio fingerprinting can identify and flag or label calls so companies can make their own policies on how to handle them. This reduces the risk of scams and ensures more efficient operations.

Many small businesses use YouMail — the consumer side of YouMailPS — to mitigate inbound robocalls. Their patented audio fingerprinting technology and real-time real-user audio collection enable effective identification and blocking of spam calls, ensuring that only legitimate calls reach your business.

Protecting Your Legitimate Outbound Robocalls And Preventing Brand Impersonation 

It’s also important to protect legitimate outbound robocalls, such as appointment reminders and automatic updates. Monitoring call traffic, maintaining a clean and accurate calling list, and working with communication service providers to ensure your calls are not flagged as spam can help protect your legitimate automated calls.

Advanced technologies like AI and machine learning can play a crucial role in detecting and preventing scams, as well as helping communicate with our audience. Partnering with experts like YouMailPS can help businesses leverage these technologies to ensure the safety and security of their outbound robocalls, minimize the risk of brand impersonation, while maintaining customer trust.

Robocalls and brand impersonation pose significant challenges for businesses. By understanding the risks and benefits of automated calls, businesses can implement strategies to mitigate robocalls, protect legitimate outbound robocalls, and defend against brand impersonation.

Don't let robocalls and brand impersonation harm your business. Contact YouMailPS today for a no-obligation consultation on comprehensive robocall mitigation and brand protection solutions.

FAQs About How Businesses Can Properly Use Automated Calls

 

What are the key benefits and challenges of robocalls for businesses?

Robocalls serve essential purposes for businesses such as appointment reminders, customer updates, and emergency alerts. However, they can be used maliciously by scammers to perpetrate fraud, engage in scams, and brand impersonation. Therefore, it's crucial for businesses to balance the benefits of automated calls while mitigating their negative effects to maintain trust and protect their reputation.

What is brand impersonation and how does it relate to robocalls?

Brand impersonation is a problem driven by robocalls where scammers spoof a company's phone number to deceive customers by posing as a legitimate business, and then extract either information or money. This often results in loss of customer trust, damaged brand reputation, potential legal liabilities, and sometimes direct expenses such as bill challenges.

How can businesses mitigate the issue of brand impersonation via robocalls?

Businesses can mitigate robocall brand impersonation by actively monitoring their brand's online presence and working with a partner or communication service providers to rapidly identify and shut down unlawful voice and SMS communications. Educating customers on recognizing and reporting suspicious calls is also a part of effective solutions.

How can businesses handle the problem of unwanted inbound robocalls?

Implementing filters to inbound calls can help businesses block unwanted robocalls and minimize disruption. Advanced technologies such as content-based analytics and audio fingerprinting can be used to identify and label calls, enabling businesses to create their own policies on how to handle them. This approach reduces the risk of scams and ensures more efficient operations.

How can businesses protect their legitimate outbound robocalls and prevent brand impersonation?

Protecting legitimate outbound robocalls involves monitoring call traffic, maintaining a clean and accurate calling list, and working with communication service providers to ensure that the calls are not flagged as spam. Advanced technologies like AI and machine learning can also play a crucial role in detecting and preventing scams. Businesses can partner with experts to leverage these technologies, ensuring the safety and security of their outbound robocalls, while minimizing the risk of brand impersonation and maintaining customer trust.

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