According to T-Mobile, “The move, called Scam Shield, is the company’s response to a rising tide of scammers preying on Americans at their most vulnerable — a problem that’s only grown more severe in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Americans have already lost over $80 million to COVID-related scams this year, and it’s just getting worse — coronavirus scams increased 70% from May to June.”
Some of the features that users will be able to expect include Scam ID, which can flag calls as most likely being a scam, from which users can then choose to block those calls so that they never come through in the future. It also includes free access to T-Mobile’s caller ID feature that can identify the name of the person or business, as well as labeling calls as being “verified” that can confirm if a number isn’t spoofed.
The app and (some of) its features will be free to all customers under T-Mobile, which also includes Sprint (who had merged with T-Mobile), and Metro by T-Mobile. The app will be available on the 24th of July for both iOS and Android users, so do keep an eye out for it if you want to guard yourself against robocalls.