What Spam Labels on Your Phone Mean

Where the label comes from

The caller does not choose the label. It is added on your end, by one of three layers:

• Your wireless carrier. T-Mobile’s ScamShield, Verizon’s Call Filter and AT&T’s ActiveArmor all screen calls on the network before they reach you.
• Call analytics companies that carriers and phone makers hire. First Orion works with T-Mobile. Hiya says its technology is built into operators and phone makers including Samsung, and that it analyzes about 28 billion calls a month. TNS offers carriers a robocall protection product called Call Guardian and a number reputation monitoring service.
• Your phone or an app you installed. Phone makers and third-party blocking apps can add their own warnings.

The FTC describes the basic idea: with call labeling, “shady calls will still come through, but you’ll see things like ‘spam’ or ‘scam likely’ on your phone’s screen.” You then decide whether to answer.

Labels by carrier

The exact wording on your screen can also depend on your phone’s own software and any app you use. That is why two people can see different labels for the same number.

What each common label means

• Scam Likely is T-Mobile’s strongest warning. It suggests suspected fraud, not just a sales call.
• Potential Spam is Verizon’s catch-all label. Verizon defines it as unwanted callers that may be calling a large number of people “indiscriminately or inappropriately.”
• Spam Risk points to a scored risk level, like Verizon’s spam risk meter, rather than a yes or no.
• Suspected Telemarketer and similar category labels mean the call looks like a sales call. Verizon defines its Telemarketer category as a “sales call to solicit a product or service.”

How STIR/SHAKEN fits in

STIR/SHAKEN is the caller ID authentication system the FCC required voice providers to implement in the internet-based parts of their networks by June 30, 2021. The provider that starts the call signs it with an attestation level. The FCC describes three:

• A, full attestation: the provider knows the customer and confirms the customer is allowed to use that number.
• B, partial attestation: the provider knows the customer but cannot confirm the number.
• C, gateway attestation: the provider is only the entry point for a call that started elsewhere, such as abroad or on a network without STIR/SHAKEN.

Attestation does not block calls and it is not a spam label. It is one signal carriers and analytics firms can use. When the FCC adopted the mandate in March 2020, it declined to require any specific way of displaying these results and asked for comment on mislabeling concerns. For recent rule changes, see our news story on STIR/SHAKEN caller ID rules.

What a label means legally

Here is the part most people get wrong. A spam label is a prediction made by a private company. It is not a finding that the caller broke any law. It does not show whether you consented, whether the call used a recording, or whether your number was on the Do Not Call Registry. Those are the facts a TCPA claim turns on.

Labels also get it wrong in both directions. Legitimate businesses get flagged, which is why First Orion sells a service to help companies “catch labeling errors fast.” And illegal calls can slip through unlabeled. Carriers say so themselves: T-Mobile warns that turning on Scam Block “might block calls you want,” AT&T says ActiveArmor “may not detect all threats and may inadvertently block wanted calls,” and the FTC says call-blocking services “might block some calls you want to get.”

When labeled calls can become a TCPA claim

A label becomes useful when it sits next to the right facts. Repeated labeled calls may support a claim when:

• they are sales calls from the same company, your number is on the Do Not Call Registry, and there were more than one in 12 months (47 U.S.C. 227(c)(5));
• they play a recorded or AI voice on your cell phone and you never gave written consent to marketing (47 C.F.R. 64.1200(a)(2));
• they continue more than ten business days after you asked the company to stop (64.1200(d)(3) and (a)(10)).

Each qualifying call can be worth $500, or up to $1,500 if a court finds it willful or knowing. The label helps you spot the pattern. The recording, the company name and the call dates prove it.

If your own number is being labeled

If your calls show up as spam, you can ask for a review. Verizon directs people to a spam feedback page for mislabeled numbers. First Orion and Hiya both offer free business number registration aimed at reducing wrong labels. If a scammer is spoofing your number, the label may reflect their calls, not yours.

What to do next about labeled calls

Do not treat a label as your evidence. Treat it as a reason to start keeping evidence. Let labeled calls go to voicemail, save any recordings, and write down the date, time and number of each call in our call log. If the same company keeps calling, check whether your number is on the Do Not Call Registry and read our guide to illegal telemarketing calls. Then ask for a free case review.

Every label we explain

• Potential Spam: What the Label Means on Verizon, T-Mobile and Other Phones

  Potential Spam is a caller ID label used by Verizon and T-Mobile for high-volume unwanted callers. Learn what it means, how to stop it and your options.

• Scam Likely: What It Means When Your Phone Shows It

  Scam Likely is T-Mobile's warning for suspected fraud calls. Learn who applies the label, how to block Scam Likely calls and when they lead to a claim.

• Spam Risk: How Phones Score Incoming Calls and What It Means

  Spam Risk warnings score how likely a call is unwanted. Learn how carriers and apps rate callers, what STIR/SHAKEN adds and when risky calls become claims.

• Suspected Telemarketer: What the Label Means and Your Rights

  Suspected Telemarketer on caller ID means your carrier or app thinks it is a sales call. See who applies it and when the calls break Do Not Call law.