People cannot reliably identify and avoid phone-based scams that use spoofed or restricted numbers

Consumers are being targeted by sophisticated phone scammers who use restricted/blocked caller IDs and transfer tactics to obscure their identity and avoid detection. Victims struggle to distinguish legitimate calls from scams in real-time, and current phone systems provide inadequate caller verification, leaving people vulnerable to financial fraud, identity theft, and emotional manipulation. Existing solutions like caller ID apps and carrier protections fail to catch sophisticated scammers who use number spoofing and transfer techniques.