Phone scams are a massive pain. It’s either someone calling to try and “repair” (read: hack) your computer or misrepresent themselves and extort you for cash. Telstra thinks it can stop these ransom call scams in their tracks with a new gadget it’s calling the Call Guardian.
Data analysed by Telstra reveals that thousands of these calls are getting through to customers’ phones every day. New South Wales cops the most amount of scam calls, followed by Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Telstra wants to fix it, so it built the Call Guardian. It’s a home phone that makes an unknown caller record their name before the call is connected. When the user picks up the phone, the pre-recorded name is given and the user can then make the choice of taking the call, disconnecting the call or blocking the number altogether.
The phone can block up to 1000 numbers, and numbers stored in phone’s built-in caller ID feature are connected straight through.
Of course, nothing worth having comes for free. The Telstra Call Guardian 301 will come at a price. It costs $72 outright or you can put it on your bill as a 24-month repayment option for $3 per month. You may also need to pay extra for caller ID (Telstra CND) depending on your current home phone plan.
I’m just waiting for the new Marvel movie Call Guardian Of The Galaxy to come out next year.