For some of us, there was a time — however long ago — when we would actually answer a call without knowing who was on the other end. For those of a certain age, answering the phone when it rang was just what you did, a behavior that stemmed from spending time around a landline — a now “ancient” technology, according to the kids. Thanks to the internet and the stunning transformation of cellphones that would eventually give us the smartphones that sit in our pockets today, the way we communicate has drastically changed.

According to a recent YouGov poll, 42% of people don’t answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize, while only 5% claim to answer calls regardless of the number that’s calling. The reasoning for unanswered phone calls is a bit of a nuanced topic, with different age groups having different preferences on what they consider to be the norm. However, one common thread among them is the growing problem of spam.

Spam communications are no longer just limited to calls, but increasingly moving to text messages, as Consumer Reports found that scam text messages have increased by 50%. The FCC has been battling robocalls and spam texts in a number of ways, and network carriers have also introduced their own tools in an effort to stem the tide of unwanted calls and texts. For T-Mobile customers, the company has Scam Shield with both free and premium benefits, and a report spam feature — here’s what you should know.

T-Mobile, as well as most major carriers, allow customers to forward suspected spam messages to 7726 — which spells “spam” on most keypads. According to T-Mobile’s support documentation, “We automatically forward the message to the Security Center for analysis. The Security Center is a global system, run by a vendor on our behalf, that helps protect mobile phone subscribers from spam, fraud, and malware.”

T-Mobile also notes that its Security Center is linked to a global database to track and cross reference potential spam messages, and that those messages may be shared with government agencies in an effort to combat spam and fraud. Carriers also use this information to calibrate spam filters and improve other tools, which could include training machine learning, as carriers are relying more on AI to identify potential scam and fraud activity.

Both Android and iOS have features to report spam in their native messaging apps that achieve the same result, and Apple’s recent iOS 26 update has a new feature to prevent spam calls from ringing through. 

Scam Shield is T-Mobile’s flagship service for blocking fraudulent calls and robocalls. T-Mobile uses its own network data and machine learning in an attempt to identify and block spam, which includes spoofing, robo-dialers, and anything else that the network deems as “Scam Likely.” T-Mobile’s Scam Shield has been brought in under the company’s T-Life app, and costs $4/line to activate if you want all the benefits. Depending on your service plan, Scam Shield may be included in the price. Many of Scam Shield’s basic features are free to customers, including Scam ID, Scam Block, Caller ID, and Scam Reporting, and Callback Protection. Scam Shield primarily relies on the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID protocol, which has proven to be a major milestone for spam prevention. 

The Scam Shield Premium features include the ability to block categories of callers (like telemarketers), a reverse number look up, and a voicemail-to-text service. Customer satisfaction with the service is mixed: some report a reduction in unwanted calls or texts, while others claim little has changed. Many seem to find the app itself unintuitive, with certain features buried in the user interface. Some people have also reported false positives, causing them to miss legitimate calls they needed to take. The overall sentiment seems to suggest that it’s better to stick what whatever plan T-Mobile provides for free rather than upgrading to a paid plan.