The short answer
Potential Spam is a warning your phone company shows where the caller’s name would be. It is Verizon’s main spam label: the number looks like someone calling a great many people at once, usually to sell something. T-Mobile shows the same words on calls it thinks are unwanted but not a scam. The number underneath is the one the call came from.
On T-Mobile, Potential Spam calls are handled in the T-Life app. The phone’s own settings help on any carrier. Both are below.
Potential Spam, Robo Caller, Potential Fraud: Verizon's labels
Verizon’s Call Filter sorts unwanted calls into three kinds. These are Verizon’s own definitions:
| Label | What Verizon means by it |
|---|---|
| Potential Spam | An unwanted caller that may be calling indiscriminately or inappropriately to a large number of people. |
| Robo Caller | An automated caller with a pre-recorded message. |
| Potential Fraud | Someone likely pretending to be someone they’re not, with malicious intent. |
Here is the part most people miss: with the free Call Filter, every one of these calls is labeled Potential Spam. Only Call Filter Plus shows the three apart. So on a free Verizon line, Potential Spam can mean a pushy sales call or a scammer posing as your bank. Treat it as a warning either way.
On an iPhone you may also see Maybe: Junk under a call Verizon suspects, or a Maybe tag on telemarketing, political, nonprofit and survey calls. Verizon home phones on Fios Digital Voice get their own free Spam Alerts on the caller ID.
Potential Spam on T-Mobile
T-Mobile has two tiers of warning. Calls it suspects are scams show Scam Likely. Calls that are unwanted but don’t look like fraud may show Potential Spam, Telemarketing or Political. The labels are applied in T-Mobile’s network, so they show on any phone.
T-Mobile’s Scam Block, the switch you turn on by dialing #662#, is made for the calls labeled Scam Likely. For Potential Spam calls, T-Mobile lists sending spam calls to voicemail among Scam Shield’s free features, managed in the T-Life app: open the Manage (or Account) tab and choose Scam Shield. Prepaid lines can’t use Scam Shield in T-Life, but can still dial #662#. Everything about Scam Likely and Scam Block is in our Scam Likely guide.
When a real caller shows up as Potential Spam
Because Potential Spam is about how a number behaves, not who owns it, busy real callers get caught: a pharmacy’s refill line, a clinic confirming appointments, a school’s announcement system, a contractor returning calls from a shared office line. Scammers also fake real businesses’ numbers, which can get a blameless number flagged.
Verizon gives you three ways to keep a number you trust from being labeled or blocked:
- Save it in your contacts. The simplest fix, and it works with the iPhone’s and Android’s own filters too.
- Add it to your allowed numbers in the Verizon Protect app.
- Unmark it as spam in the app if Verizon has it wrong.
Call Filter Plus can block whole categories of calls (telemarketers, nonprofits, political and surveys), but Verizon never blocks calls it identifies as healthcare or public service that way.
How to block Potential Spam calls on Verizon
Get the app
Call Filter is free on standard monthly and prepaid plans. Its settings now live in the Verizon Protect app, which comes preloaded on most Android phones sold by Verizon. On an iPhone, or an Android phone brought from another carrier, download Verizon Protect from the App Store or Google Play. It needs iOS 16.6 or Android 10 or later.
Turn on the spam filter
- Open Verizon Protect.
- Tap Services, then Call Filter, then Manage.
- Tap Spam & category filters.
- Turn on the Spam filter switch.
- Pick the risk level to block, from the table below.
- Leave Allow voicemails on, so blocked callers can still leave a message.
| Risk level | What it blocks | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| High risk only | Only the calls Verizon rates high risk. This is where Call Filter starts. | Anyone who often gets important calls from numbers they don’t know |
| High and medium risk | High- and medium-risk spam calls | Most people |
| All risk levels | Every call Verizon rates as spam at any level | A parent who answers everything, once their contacts are saved |
Verizon sends blocked calls to voicemail unless you choose to end them instead. Deleting the app doesn’t turn the filter off; calls stay labeled and blocked until you switch off the spam filter or cancel Call Filter.
Basic phones and older phones
A flip phone, or an Android phone older than Android 10, can’t run the app. Turn Call Filter on from the My Verizon website or app instead, on the page for your plan’s services and perks. Verizon notes that prepaid lines and business lines can’t manage Call Filter that way.
Call Filter Plus
The paid version is $3.99 a month for one line, or $10.99 for three or more. It adds caller ID for numbers you don’t know, spam lookup, a personal block list and blocking by category. The free version already does the blocking most people need.
Potential Spam calls on iPhone and Android
The phone’s own filters work on top of the carrier’s, on Verizon or anywhere else.
iPhone
Open Settings, tap Apps, then Phone. Under Call Filtering, turn on Spam: calls the carrier flags are silenced and sent to voicemail. Above it, Screen Unknown Callers set to Ask Reason for Calling makes any number that isn’t in your contacts say who it is before the iPhone rings. If a call you need keeps going to voicemail, save the number in your contacts first. To stop the blocking altogether, Verizon says to turn off both the iPhone’s spam setting and the spam filter in Verizon Protect. The full walkthrough is in how to stop spam calls on iPhone.
Android
In the Phone by Google app, tap the three dots, then Settings, Caller ID and spam, and turn on Filter spam calls. On a Samsung Galaxy, open the Phone app, tap the three dots, then Settings, Caller ID and spam protection, and turn on Block spam and scam calls. More in how to block spam calls on Android.
Should you answer a Potential Spam call?
Usually not. Let it go to voicemail and listen later. Most of these calls are sales pitches, robocalls and survey dialers, and a caller with a real reason will leave a message or text. Remember that on free Call Filter a scammer’s call wears the same label, so a voicemail saying your account is locked or a package is held is worth checking on the company’s own number, never the one in the message.
If you do pick up and hear a recording, hang up. Pressing a key “to be removed” tells the dialer a person answers your number, and can bring more calls, not fewer.
If your own number shows as Potential Spam
Small businesses, clinics and anyone who makes a lot of calls can find their own number labeled. Each carrier has a free form to ask for a review:
- Verizon: voicespamfeedback.com, Verizon’s spam feedback page.
- T-Mobile: callreporting.t-mobile.com. T-Mobile says corrections are made within 48 hours of a verified request.
- AT&T: att.com/reviewmycalllabel.
T-Mobile also points businesses to the Free Caller Registry, where you can register your numbers and business name so your calls are recognized.
How PhoneShield handles Potential Spam calls
PhoneShield answers the calls to a phone that forwards to it. When the carrier has already labeled a call Potential Spam, Potential Fraud or Robo Caller, PhoneShield refuses it before the phone rings, and the family sees it in the call list with the reason. A favorite, a saved contact or someone given a temporary pass still rings through, even if the network has mislabeled their number, so the pharmacy you saved is never turned away for the label.
The calls with no label at all are the ones PhoneShield is built for. Numbers on its shared scam list or with repeated FTC complaints are refused, and everyone else meets a front desk that asks who they are and why they are calling before anything rings. No screening is perfect, but a stranger has to explain themselves first.
PhoneShield is $29.99 a month for one line, on Verizon or any other carrier. See how a call is handled.
Questions people ask
What does Potential Spam mean?
It is a warning from your phone company, shown where the caller's name would be. On Verizon it means the number looks like someone calling large numbers of people indiscriminately or inappropriately. T-Mobile uses the same words for calls that look like spam but not like a scam. It is a judgment about the number, made before you answer.
Is Potential Spam the same as Scam Likely?
Not quite. Scam Likely is T-Mobile's label for suspected scams. Potential Spam is Verizon's main label, and on T-Mobile a milder one for unwanted calls that don't look like fraud. Verizon's stronger label is Potential Fraud, which customers with Call Filter Plus see when Verizon thinks the caller is pretending to be someone else.
How do I block Potential Spam calls on Verizon?
Open the Verizon Protect app, tap Services, then Call Filter, then Manage, then Spam & category filters. Turn on the Spam filter and choose which calls to block: High risk only, High and medium risk, or All risk levels. Blocked calls go to voicemail unless you change that. On a basic phone, turn on Call Filter in My Verizon instead.
How do I stop Potential Spam calls on my iPhone?
Do two things. Turn on your carrier's filter (on Verizon, the Spam filter in the Verizon Protect app). Then on the iPhone open Settings, Apps, Phone, and under Call Filtering turn on Spam, so calls flagged as spam go to voicemail. Screen Unknown Callers, on the same screen, makes every unknown number say who it is before the phone rings.
What is the difference between Potential Spam, Robo Caller and Potential Fraud?
Verizon's own definitions: Potential Spam is an unwanted caller who may be calling a large number of people. Robo Caller is an automated caller with a recorded message. Potential Fraud is someone likely pretending to be someone they're not, with bad intent. Free Call Filter labels all three Potential Spam; Call Filter Plus shows them apart.
Is Verizon Call Filter free?
The basic version is free on standard monthly and prepaid plans with a compatible phone. It detects and filters spam, keeps a log of spam and blocked calls, and lets you allow numbers and report spam. Call Filter Plus is $3.99 a month, or $10.99 for three or more lines, and adds caller ID, spam lookup, a personal block list and blocking by category.
Why does my doctor's office or pharmacy show up as Potential Spam?
Offices that call many patients from one number can look like a mass caller to the network, and scammers sometimes fake real businesses' numbers. Save the number in your contacts, or add it to your allowed numbers in the Verizon Protect app. Verizon says calls it identifies as healthcare or public service can't be blocked by category.
Should I answer a Potential Spam call?
If you aren't expecting a call, let it go to voicemail. Most Potential Spam calls are sales pitches or robocalls, and a real caller will leave a message. If you answer and it is a recording, hang up without pressing any keys.