This December, tellows would like to share with you its 2019 study. In which country do you think tellows users were the most active during 2019? In November 2018 we published our first study about the amount of ratings users left on tellows.
We have collected information from January to November 2019 to update you on the latest developments in spam reporting on tellows. Check out the following diagrams to find out about rating trends in your home country, how these have changed compared to last year and how the figures compare to other countries! In the UK, almost 3 in every 1000 site visitors left a comment this year. There was also a mild increase in the total number of comments compared with 2018. Nevertheless, the users of Columbia were the most active with 7 in every 1000 users sharing information about unknown numbers in 2019.
We at tellows have some exciting news: We have released a major app update!
Some of you may have been lucky enough to have used or seen the latest version already, as the update has been rolling out since the end of November. Check it out in the Play Store!
Today we would like to talk about the new features of our Android app!
Since 2014, the year we launched it, our app has grown: we have moved to over 450,000 downloads, more than 6,400 evaluations and 200,000 subscribers. Every day we work hard to improve it and your advice and feedbacks have been fundamental.
Functionality at a glance
Immediately identify who is calling you:
We have improved Caller ID, so that the spam numbers are immediately detected through the tellows app; the tellows score will be always shown on the screen of our mobile phone and, in addition to the rating, you will also be able to find out the name of the caller, the type of call and from which location it phones. You will have all the information you need, so you can decide whether or not to answer calls!
Find any number and info on callers:
With over 180.000 reviewsper day, you can find out who is bothering you in no time. Thanks to your reports, our database is constantly updated and over time it has become a big world family. New countries and new languages are available in the application, no scammers or call centers around the globe will have a chance!
Evaluate and comment on phone numbers:
Commenting and evaluating is now easier and more immediate, in order that you can help us in our mission against telephone scams; just connect to your account and enter in the tellows world from all devices in a simple and free way. It is not required to leave a comment anymore when rating a number which makes it faster to evaluate unknown numbers. Your negative rated numbers are also on your personalized blacklist and can be blocked with premium.
Call barring and Blacklist customized with Premium:
In the Premium version, all dangerous numbers rated by you, are saved on your phone and can be blocked even in offline mode. All is possible thanks to the black list stored and updated locally and also use it without any advertising.
We could not be more proud of our product, but without your support and the trust that you give us every day, we would not have made the giant steps we have taken so far: you, our community tellows, are the beating heart of our app!
more and more frequently consumers are victims of telephone spam or frauds, or are simply provoked by frequent unwanted calls. They use various tricks to pull our money out of our pockets. Here in our community, many phone owners report and rate the numbers that called them, sharing their experiences with other users to protect you and themselves. This works in an easy and uncomplicated way.
The heart of us is the tellows score. It is calculated from all previously stored ratings for a specific phone number. Users of the community can report and rate phone numbers on a scale of 1-9, where 9 means that a very dangerous or very annoying phone call is on the line and 1 is a rather harmless one. So you can rate and categorize each phone number on a scale from 1 (trustworthy) to 9 (dubious). From 7 on, the corresponding phone number is placed on a blacklist of the community and is thus blocked for everyone using the tellows products by itself and provides an appropriate protection. Depending on the rating, you can then assess the seriousness of a called number. In this way you can inform yourself online about the experience other users have already made with the respective number. And if there is a cost trap or telephone fraud behind it, you can know it because of the negatively rated number before they call you back again. Additionally, you can create your personal blacklist and add unwanted numbers that are not yet rated or don’t appear in the blacklist. If you rate a number negatively, it will be added to your personal blacklist and will be blocked the next time you receive a call. Even if the overall rating assigned by other tellows users of the phone number is different, it will still be blocked.
In order to be able to benefit from the collected assessments and experiences at an early stage, for example even before a call is answered, the successful tellows app for devices with Android or iOS was developed. This already indicates during the ringing, how trustworthy the calling number is by using the reports of the community. Thus, when the call is received, the tellows score is displayed. Weiterlesen →
Mobile phone fraud involves a variety of scams that either persuade you to buy phone-related products/services that turn out to be non-existent or to make phone calls or texts to premium services by accident or to unknowingly sign up to expensive subscription services. And each year millions of the UK consumers fall victim to mobile phone frauds.
There is one group of people who are more likely to become a victim of a scam – students! Students are using their mobile phones almost 24 h a day and they are open to communication with the world. Those might be the reasons for the latest frauds in the UK, when students were victims.
Last fall college students have been left in thousands of pounds of debt after becoming involved in a mobile phone contract scam. A fraud has made young people sign up for numerous expensive mobile phone deals on the promise they will not be required to fulfil them. Young people from Preston College have taken out mobile phone contracts which they hand over to a fraudster, who promised to cancel the contracts. But instead he shipped them abroad to places like India and Pakistan leaving students facing bills for more than £2,000 each. Some of them were paid a fee for their work, while others were probably conned into the belief taking mobile phones would “improve their credit rating.” Police have today revealed frauds – criminals from Blackburn.
Very often scammed are especially international students. Tellows user m.wentzel reported number 02032398294 and his comment:
This is one of the numbers that pretends to be from the UKBA to fool international students in the UK and tell them there is something wrong with their imigration application. They have parts of your data (maybe name, zip-code etc.) and they try to get ALL of your information plus your credit card details. Do not give that information!
In 2012 BBC informed that in nine months viruses that steal cash have jumped from 29% of mobile malware to 62% . Mobile security firm Lookout said viruses were getting on to phones via booby-trapped apps and through adverts and webpages harbouring malware. Those viruses added charges to a user’s bill to cash in. Fraudsters inserted a virus called „NotCompatible“. Such a virus might be used to artificially inflate the popularity of an advert, a song on a music website to help generate a larger return for criminals.
Another example of scam adds has been reported by Tellows user London on number 07572597532:
Be careful people. This guy puts fakes adds on gumtree. But is a scam.
Trust me. This guy is a scammer.
People are being tricked into signing up, often by typing in their mobile number online, for services they actually don’t want. Messages are then sent out which can cost users up to £4.50 per text to receive. Unless people keep a close eye on their mobile phone bills those charges can add up very quickly. For example, twenty-four-year-old Beth Coundley from Chichester got caught out after receiving around five texts a month for five months. In total she was charged around £130 despite insisting she never signed up for any services.
And those are just few examples of this huge problem. To protect yourself it is better not to respond to unknown numbers, to reply to text messages from someone you don’t know, to reply to any text that claims you won money. We have to remember it is not possible to win money without entering a competition.
Taking into consideration the amount of phone frauds, the UK government is doing everything possible to protect their citizens. There are advices how to protect yourself and your money in the internet, also everybody who becomes victims can make a fraud information report on webpage of Tellows. Police and National Fraud Authority are working together to fight this fight. Unfortunately, the development of technologies guarantees the development of fraudsters’ imagination.
it is done! Finally, the new tellows iPhone app is avaiable for download in the App-store. Brand-new and technically up-to-date the app features a vast database of 10 000 comments on dubious rated numbers and 50 000 users per day on tellows.co.uk. Access tellows effortlessly through your iPhone.
Comment to Go – Search, Type, Send
Submitting queries for unknown phone numbers has never been easier. Just navigate to the query box, type in the number and hit the search button. Subsequently, you will reach the detail page of the wanted phone number. Not only does this page display the tellows Score but also hosts all existing comments on the number and offers, additionally, the possibility to rate the number and to post a comment yourself.
Who’s calling? – The End of Unpleasant Suprises
Due to the apps synchronization with the tellows database, the app will automatically identify the nature of the incoming call and display the imminent threat’s rating with a score of 7 to 9. Save valuable time and nerves by recognizing an unsolicited call at the first ring.
Harassment Protection – Individual Set Up to Your Liking
By activating the Harassment Protection, the app will be able to compare incoming calls with the tellows database and, therewith, divulge the trustworthiness of the phone number. Thanks to regular update your phone will always know the latest scam and spam phone numbers. Choose the score you would like to be warned about.
Features of the Version 1.8
categorization of incoming calls according to the tellwos score 7 – 9
post a comment
query unknown numbers
history of last calls
history of „Most Wanted“ phone numbers
Download the App for free and check out our support page in order to get more information about the App and receive answers to possible questions that you might have!
Issue: The tellwso pro caller recognition app is unable to add the tellows score lists (negatively rated) to your contacts.
In this case you probably use only Exchange-Accounts to synchronize your contacts and never enabled neither iCloud nor t your local iPhone contact list.
Background: The tellows app imports the score lists with negatively rated numbers and adds 3 new contacts by the name of „tellows Score X“ (X equals the score of 7 – 9). There are known issues when importing the score lists using certain Exchange-Servers (i.e. Google) since they can attribute only a small amount of phone numbers to the contacts.
There are two ways to resolve this issue:
1.Solution
To successfully import the lists the local contacts list of your iPhone needs to be addressed manually (the tellows app does not have access to your contacts list). To achieve this, you have temporalily disable the Exchange-servers and add a „dummy“ contact. The screens below offer further information on the procedure.
1. Edit Exchange-Server Settings
2. Disable Contact Synchronization
3. Delete any contacts from the phone to avoid duplicate entries
4. Add new contact
5. Save contact – A name is sufficient
6. Enable contact synchronization of Exchange-servers and keep created contacts on the phone
7. The groups overview now shows the group "On my iPhone" in which the tellows score lists are saved
2.Solution
Apple’s iCloud service provides an additional way for the contact synchronization which also supports multiple numbers per contact. The activation of the iCloud synchronization solves the issue as well and, therewith, allows the tellows app to import negatively rated numbers.
The standard account for maintaining your contacts (create / edit / delete) stays untouched.
Below you will find some examples of known app errors and their solution.
General
How does tellows collect its information about phone numbers?
–>Our users provide this information by leaving comments about their experiences with individual phone numbers. This information also includes ratings, information about the call type and the owner of the phone number
Will the tellows app block all nuisance calls?
–>Although tellows has information about lots of phone numbers, some spam calls may still slip through the net. If you receive a spam call, leave a comment on the number and this information will help us expand our database so that we can help others protect themselves from the same caller!
iOs
Why isn’t the tellows app listed under ‘Call Blocking and Identification’?
–>Unfortunately, this is a bug from Apple for all Caller ID apps. Apple suggests a workaround: If the iPhone won’t let you activate the app, you should wait at least 1 hour before you try to open the settings again. The app should finally appear in the menu option. This may take between 1-3 days, so we suggest you try to enable it from time to time. You should also restart your phone and try to enable the app again. If this does not work, check that your screen setting are appropriate, as this can block the app from being listed and please try to reinstall the app and restart your phone
How do I activate my premium subscription on my iPhone?
–>Buy it through the app, nothing else is required! Your app status updates automatically from lite to pro
Android
How do I manually block a number? (free)
–>When you rate a number negatively it will be blocked on your device. Make sure, you activated the block feature in the app settings. You can find your local scorelist in settings
How do I get numbers blocked automatically?
–>This feature requires premium. On the settings page, use the section: “Block incoming calls by local scorelist” to select which calls you would like to block. If you have premium, all calls from numbers with scores above the one selected will be blocked (e.g. score 8 and above).
There are many more answered questions in at our support page, check it out! If you cannot find what you are searching for, you can always use our contact form on the FAQ Website.
