Getting to the point where we’re going to need phone, email, and SMS to be deny all by default. Can’t reach me unless you’re information is already in my contacts.
A few months ago some criminals social engineered themselves past my bank's security as well. The first I learned about this was a funny conversation (by phone!) from an actual Deutsche Bank employee asking me if I recently changed my address and phone number and whether I opened ten new accounts. "eh no?!..." Basically their fraud detection system kicked in before these people did any damage. I made a point of not doing anything else than confirming information they already knew (like my old address, email address) and asked for an on site meeting to discuss things in more detail. I realized instantly I had no way of verifying anything I was being told on the phone and might very well be talking to a scammer. As it turns out this was for real and the person actually managed to find my "old phone number" in some archive. Otherwise all my contact information had already been changed by the scammers. Thankfully I answered that call. Apparently, this happened to several people.
Basically, what happened was some persons just called the bank's help desk, asked them to reset my online banking access codes, and then somehow intercepted the pin codes (thanks Deutsche Post) before they reached me. The theory is that somehow the security of the distribution system was compromised. As far as I an tell, nobody broke into my building or mailbox. Then started they using them to change my address, etc. They got caught only when they created sub accounts and started transferring money.
The criminals that got into my account got too greedy. The bank's fraud detection system kicked in and rolled back the transactions. But at that point they had complete control over my account. Very scary. If they had been more subtle, they could have likely stolen quite a bit. So, also not criminal master minds probably.
Email has decent spam filtering, and I think that kind of cat-mouse system will persist. That said, there's "room" for more whitelisting.
In principle, "pay me a small fee if you're not on my list, if I put you on my list now it's free" would work well (optionally refund someone who contacts you out of the blue that you approve of), but there's a lot of both engineering and social details between where we are now and such a system.
It doesn't take much cost friction to deter mass spamming. I don't think much problem would be left behind from the handful of overconfident spammers who think that they can bust the odds and it's worth 25 cents a message or something.
"Anyone not on your contact list will take $1 off your monthly bill for each phone call, SMS, or eMail they send to you (through our phone line & email servers)"
Artificially or intentionally aligning interests tends to be a "genie, make me a sandwich^" problem. There are lots of places where "reversing the charges," seems good in theory... but it never happens.
Anyway, linkedin have something like this. In practice, it feels like a better quality of spam, rather than a solution to spam.
^Poof. you are now a sandwich.
Ive had to wildcard block my area code (since I don't live there anymore) which captures 95% of my daily spam calls - but people can still leave a message to break through my wall if it's truly urgent. I don't see how this could work with SMS.
Even message requests on facebook/messenger have problems where you are unlikely to even see the request unless you check regularly.
You could likely get a far off area coded number.
There are a lot of these little edge-cases. Journalists, lawyers representing class action suits, government id expiring, and so on.
Just wait for the deepfaked voice call scammers. Their best bet is to work up the hierarchy; a tiny local police station knows how to get in touch with a bigger police station that can contact an embassy, etc.
> There are a lot of these little edge-cases. Journalists, lawyers representing class action suits, government id expiring, and so on.
All of these use-cases allow someone to spend the time to contact you via your preferred contact method, whatever that might be.
I've read that people not answering their phones is the number one reason that COVID contact tracing doesn't work.
But your comment makes me think that you've never had food delivered. Never used an Uber. Never owned a business. Never bought or sold real estate. Never rented a place to live. Never went to a restaurant with a wait list. Never done a lot of things that are perfectly ordinary, and require allowing people to contact you when they have questions.
For all those other things, though, I'm not sure why you need to answer unknown numbers. I've never owned my own business, but did manage a small business and we had dedicated business lines. No one needed to call my personal phone. For buying and selling real estate, there are agents that act as go-betweens and you can put their number on your contacts list. For renting, put the management company on your contacts list.
I've used dozens and dozens of delivery companies over the years, and the only delivery company I've found that doesn't have its people calling on phones is DoorDash, and even that uses SMS. Plus, most of the best places don't use services, they have their own people.
we had dedicated business lines
Doesn't help you when someone needs to contact you in an emergency, like the alarm company, or the landlord, or security, or the police, thousand other things.
For buying and selling real estate, there are agents that act as go-betweens and you can put their number on your contacts list.
Sounds good in theory, but doesn't work in practice. There can be dozens and dozens of people and companies involved in such a transaction, and you can't predict who they all are.
For renting, put the management company on your contacts list.
When the management company sends a vendor over to fix something, you don't know what number they'll call from.
To "never" get an unexpected, important call sounds like a side effect of a quiet life. I envy you.
I know that we deserve something better than what we have now. I know we shouldn't have to put up with spammers calling constantly, but we don't live in a perfect world yet. We live in a messy world where sometimes people need to make a phone call and hope their loved ones pick up. I can think of a plethora of possible technical solutions, but that's besides the point. We need phone numbers to work. Let's focus on solving that problem, not trying to imagine it doesn't exist.