This is a sponsored blog post from our friends at T-Mobile. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Military families need to answer their phones, whether during boot camp, deployments, or when making a PCS move. You won’t always recognize a number, but want to answer in case it’s your spouse calling.
When my husband was at basic combat training at Fort Jackson, I was home alone, pregnant, and with a toddler. I had my phone on me at all times, in case a call came through, because I’d never forgive myself if I missed it.
I’d see an unfamiliar number and feel a rush. I’d excitedly answer, only to hear that I “might get arrested by the IRS for tax evasion,” or that “I defaulted on my student loan.” Fortunately, I knew better than to entertain these calls, but can you imagine how many vulnerable spouses fall prey to these scams? It’s already a stressful time, because we may feel isolated, sleep deprived, or afraid, and, while in this frame of mind, can be manipulated into providing sensitive material to a complete stranger.
With every PCS to a new duty station, I never knew if the local caller was from my husband’s new job, someone from his unit, our new doctor, or even my kids’ new school. The fact of the matter was, I HAD to answer my phone as a military spouse, and it was crystal clear that these calls weren’t going to stop.
Scammers Gotta Scam
Why do these scammers keep calling? Because it’s working. People are falling for it. In fact, scams and unwanted robocalls are the #1 complaint to the FTC and cost Americans over $10 billion a year!
I mentioned how years ago, I received calls about student loans and taxes, but these predators have changed their strategy and are now capitalizing on the pandemic. As of May 2021, the FTC logged more than 479,000 consumer scam complaints related to COVID-19 and stimulus payments, which have cost consumers more than $425 million!
T-Mobile already offers a generous military discount with it’s Magenta Military plans that start as low as $25 a month, and (depending on the type of plan) include things pertinent to military life like inflight wi-fi for those long PCS flights.
When it comes to scamming and robocalls T-Mobile decided that enough was enough. That’s why in the Summer of 2020, it launched Scam Shield, an unparalleled set of FREE safeguards — built into the heart of T-Mobile’s network — to protect customers against scammers, spammers and unwanted robocalls.
And, while not every robocall is illegal, with Premium you can control the legal kind that you may or may not find annoying. Are you a political junky and love taking surveys? You can put those through. A soft spot for charitable donations? You can let those come through but stop the rest.
T-Mobile Protects Military Consumers Against Scams
Scam Shield by T-Mobile helps end this pervasive problem affecting everyone with a phone. Do you have a phone? Are you getting these calls? Do you not want to anymore?
T-Mobile is the FIRST and ONLY major wireless provider to protect every customer against scammers — no special device, plan or app required – and to do it at absolutely zero cost. How?
Tmobile uses AI, machine learning, and patented technologies to analyze call behavior. T-Mobile looks at how a call is routed as it comes through the network, watches for triggers like rapid fire calls that are mass-generated, and checks against databases of known scammers. T-Mobile responds to new threats and updates network safeguards in real-time, upgrading its protections at least every six minutes, 24/7.
Your Spouse Protects the Country, Scam Shield Protects You
Think of Scam Shield as your tactical gear, designed to arm you with more information about who’s calling you, while providing protection of your personal information. Here are the six Scam Shield tools you need to know about (and no, you don’t have to turn in this “protective gear” to the government when your spouse receives his/her DD-214)!
- Free Scam Shield App. This is your one-stop-shop to activate and control all of your Scam Shield tools.
- Free Scam ID. All suspicious calls are flagged by default as “Scam Likely” on your Caller ID display. You can choose to block, answer, or ignore these.
- Free Scam Blocking. If you never want to see a “Scam Likely” call again, customers can turn on scam block and all those pesky calls will go straight to voicemail. Check the Scam Shield app anytime to see which calls have been blocked!To enable Scam Block, simply activate it in the free Scam Shield app, mentioned above or on your T-Mobile phone.
- Free, Enhanced Caller ID. How is it that in 2021 our phone can tell us the name, artist and year of a song we’re listening to, but can’t tell us who is calling unless they are in our contacts. Why should we pay extra for Caller ID – it’s free and included. And with Enhanced Caller ID, the T-Mobile network will tell you if the number you see on the display is really coming from the person or business that is calling, and hasn’t been spoofed by a scammer. So you can trust that a number is verified. It’s like an ID check by the bouncer for your phone.
- Free Second Number. T-Mobile PROXY is a second phone number to keep your personal number personal. Controlled by an app on your phone, you can give out your PROXY number anytime you don’t want to give out your real number, and your whole family can share the spam inbox.
- Free Number Change. If your personal number has become a spam magnet, start fresh with a new phone number. (This is super convenient since we move every few years!)
Last but not least, we have to ask — do you love upgrades? If so, you need to know about the advanced protection of Scam Shield Premium. With Scam Shield Premium, customers can send entire categories of calls to voicemail. While not every robocall is illegal, with Premium you can control the legal kind that you may or may not find annoying. Are you a political junky and love taking surveys? You can put those through. A soft spot for charitable donations? You can let those come through too, but put a pause the rest by letting premium send them directly to voicemail. And, it’s just $4/line per month. Ah… peace of mind without paying out a huge chunk of cash! Yes, please!
So, if you can you imagine a world where only the calls that matter come through, that’s where T-Mobile comes in. This is why military families need to know about Scam Shield protection, an unparalleled set of FREE safeguards — built into the heart of T-Mobile’s network. To learn more, please click here.
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Army Wife 101
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market. She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.