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.
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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.