How does Bell protect my business from fraudulent calls?

Fraudulent and abusive calls, such as scam¹, can interfere with productivity and pose security risks to your business. Bell proactively protects your organization from unwanted calls leveraging several solutions including suspicious call detection, an exclusive AI-powered call-blocking system and network-level defenses.

Suspicious Call Detection
Suspicious call detection uses AI analytics to monitor incoming calls in real time, and it alerts you about potential spam or fraud. When you receive a call from a suspicious and unknown phone number, your device will display a warning label to help you decide whether to answer:

• Likely Fraud – calls deemed highly suspicious and fraudulent
• Possible Spam – calls that appear suspicious but are more likely to be categorized as unsolicited

Exercise caution when answering calls with these labels. Suspicious call detection is a self-evolving analytical engine, and the accuracy will continue to improve over time.
FAQ:

• How do I add/remove the suspicious call detection feature?
  • Suspicious call detection is automatically available for all Bell Mobility customers at no extra charge. It is automatically enabled to protect you from suspicious calls and cannot be turned off.
• Can I block unwanted calls with the suspicious call detection feature?
  • Suspicious call detection helps you decide whether to answer incoming calls by labelling suspicious ones. While this feature only identifies potential spam or fraud, you have the option to block specific phone numbers directly through the call settings on your device.
• How can I ensure my important calls don’t get mislabeled?
  • While Bell makes every effort to prevent important calls from being mislabelled, consider adding key contacts – such as your family doctor or hospital – to your device's contact list. This proactive step helps ensure these numbers are recognized and not incorrectly identified.
• Can I update my language preference for the labels?
  • Labels for Suspicious Call Detection are bilingual, displaying both English and French. The primary language depends on your region: French appears first for customers in Québec based on your area code, and English appears first for customers in the rest of Canada. You do not need to adjust your language preferences.

AI-powered call-blocking technology
Available only from Bell, our call-blocking technology combines artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze every call originating, terminating, or transiting through the Bell network. Calling numbers that are performing fraudulent activity are blocked.

Since our national trial began in 2020, we have blocked more than 6.6 billion fraudulent and abusive calls. Based on the success of that trial, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted Bell permission to block fraudulent and abusive calls that we identify through our AI-powered call-blocking technology. Bell officially launched our fraudulent and abusive call-blocking system in December 2021.

Additional network-level defences
In addition to our exclusive AI-powered call-blocking technology, we have also introduced other network-level defenses to identify and/or block nuisance calls:

• In September 2020, Bell became one of the first Canadian telecom carriers to implement STIR/SHAKEN – before it was mandated by the CRTC.
  
  STIR/SHAKEN is a calling number-authentication technology that reduces the number of fraudulent calls by verifying that an incoming call is, in fact, from the number shown on the calling number display. If STIR/SHAKEN has verified the telephone number as authentic, you may see an indicator on your mobile device (typically a green checkmark) next to the calling number when the phone rings (subject to device capability).
  
  The CRTC requires Canadian telephone service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN and provide status updates every six months. The telecom industry is working collectively with a CRTC working group to develop best practices associated with the implementation.
  
  Devices that are compatible with STIR/SHAKEN include:
  
  1. 1) LG Velvet 5G
  2. 2) Samsung smartphones with Android OS 11 or higher
  3. 3) Samsung Galaxy Watch4 or newer
  4. 4) Samsung Galaxy Watch Active4 or newer
  5. 5) Motorola G Stylus, G 5G, G Power
  6. 6) Google 6 Pro and Google 6
  We are working closely with other smartphone manufacturers to increase the number of devices that can support STIR/SHAKEN verification.
• Launched in December 2019, Universal Network-Level Call Blocking (UNCB) protects Canadians from being called from non-conforming, non-dialable, or non-existent telephone numbers. Since implementation of this capability, Bell has blocked over 2.3 billion fraudulent, scam, and non-conforming calls.

Other features you can use to help block fraudulent and abusive calls
Your mobile device may include additional features that can protect you from receiving fraudulent calls, including:

• Call Display that allows you to see a caller’s number on your mobile device before you answer it;
• Smart Calling functions that let you block unwanted calls;
• Third-party applications for Android and iOS (such as Hiya) that can help you identify various types of nuisance calling.

Our goal is to block more fraudulent and abusive calls
We are continually exploring new and innovative solutions to achieve even greater reductions in fraudulent calls:

• With every call analyzed, our machine learning technology gets even more accurate, so our AI-based network-level call blocking becomes more effective;
• We are expanding manufacturer support for STIR/SHAKEN to offer caller authentication on more devices;
• We are developing reputation-based call filtering whose goal is to alert you if fraudulent calls originate from suspect telephone numbers.