Can Businesses Block Robocalls?

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 gave the FCC the power to regulate telemarketers’ use of artificial or prerecorded voice messages, now known as robocalls, in calls to consumers. Today, consumers can add their home landline and mobile numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry.
However, B2B robocalls calls made with the intent to solicit sales are exempt from these Do Not Call provisions. Robocallers who exclusively call other business lines are not required to obtain or scrub their list against the National Do Not Call Registry.
US businesses spend over 20 million hours answering unwanted phone calls each year. Yet, under the TCPA, the FCC offers no protection for businesses against the robocalls. Instead, businesses are advised to simply hang up.
The FCC has held regular contests to crowdsource ideas for robocall blocking technology. In 2013, Serdar Danis and Aaron Foss won for proposals that filtered robocalls using a CAPTCHA style test. While the idea might work in an enterprise environment, most businesses cannot risk frustrating legitimate callers who may be calling for support or to make a sales inquiry.
Pindrop offers an alternate solution for businesses to block unwanted calls. Phone Reputation Service (PRS) is the most complete database of spam phone numbers and robo dialers available on the market today. Instead of verifying each caller using a CAPTCHA or other complicated activity, PRS assigns each incoming phone number a risk score based on factors like complaint history, device type, and service provider.
PRS integrates with current enterprise phone systems. A business can set a custom risk score threshold to automatically block numbers with a known history of robocalls, fraud, or other unwanted activity. Pindrop customers report PRS True Detection Rates (TDR) of nearly 80%.