SnorCall: AI-Powered Tool to Protect You from Robocall Scams

(Image credit- Voicebot.ai) A new technology called SnorCall has surfaced in the ongoing fight against robocalls with the goal of revolutionizing the struggle against the rampant wave of unwanted calls. SnorCall, a tool designed to examine the content of such calls, aims to shed light on the scope of the problem and the various robocall scams. The tool's developers expect that regulators, phone companies, and other stakeholders will use it to improve understanding, monitoring, and robocall trend mitigation. The end goal is to proactively deal with illegal activity connected to these calls.

How to stop robocalls

The difficulty that service providers and researchers encounter was highlighted by Brad Reaves, an assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University and the corresponding author of related work. They have access to call metadata, but they lack the resources to thoroughly examine robocalls' actual content. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1191"] Image credit- The Business Journal[/caption] Such inquiries have been hampered by worries about privacy issues. Through a partnership with telecoms company Bandwidth, SnorCall is able to provide a resolution that distinguishes robocall content while protecting privacy. In order to monitor unwanted robocalls, the application uses over 60,000 phone numbers, so there is no need to access customers' phone numbers. In order to speed up content analysis, SnorCall records all incoming robocalls on monitored phone lines and groups calls with similar sounds. The objective of each call is then determined through transcription and evaluation of these recorded calls using the machine-learning framework Snorkel. The framework uses labels to specify the call's focus, such as whether it relates to a specific company or government initiative, demands personal data, or makes financial requests. SnorCall's insights can be used to identify trends and patterns in robocall scams. Reaves said in a statement, "We've developed a tool that allows us to characterize the content of robocalls." He further added, "And we've done it without violating privacy concerns; in collaboration with a telecommunications company called Bandwidth, we operate more than 60,000 phone numbers that are used solely by us to monitor unsolicited robocalls. We did not use any phone numbers of actual customers."   [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1560"] Image credit - WTOP News[/caption]

Testing SnorCall

SnorCall was used to examine 232,723 robocalls gathered over a period of 23 months across the dedicated phone lines as verification. The tool's examination of 26,791 different audio files provided insightful information about fraud tactics and tendencies. The ability to retrieve call-back numbers that scammers encourage victims to contact was a notable discovery that might help law enforcement track both sources and offenders. Additionally, SnorCall's application offered insights into the fluidity of scam operations. For instance, during the epidemic, trends in the frequency of Social Security scam robocalls appeared. Reaves emphasized the tool's flexibility by stating that Snorkel permits customization to meet the unique needs of stakeholders. Due to its adaptability, SnorCall can recognize terms connected to particular scam subjects, making it useful for investigation purposes. The consequences of the study go beyond increases in scams and the discovery of new scam types. Researchers are working with industry partners to improve SnorCall's efficiency and meaningful impact in preventing robocall scams since it presents a potential answer to the enduring robocall dilemma. Also read: The FCC issues a block order on One Eye for enabling robocall scams