The short answer
Spam Risk is how AT&T marks an incoming call it believes is unwanted: robocalls, sales pitches, survey dialers and the like. The words appear where the caller’s name would be, and the number below them is the number that called. Calls AT&T thinks are outright scams get a stronger label, Fraud Risk, and are blocked before they ring.
Spam Risk, Fraud Risk and the kinds of call
AT&T’s free ActiveArmor protection works with two levels of warning:
| Label | What it means | What happens by default |
|---|---|---|
| Spam Risk | A call AT&T thinks is unwanted | It rings, with the label. You choose whether these ring, go to voicemail or are blocked. |
| Fraud Risk | A call AT&T thinks is a scam | Blocked, so the phone never rings |
When it can, AT&T also says what kind of spam call it is. The kinds in the ActiveArmor app are telemarketers, political, account services, nonprofits, surveys and other. That helps you choose: some people want to hear from a charity they give to but never from a telemarketer.
Other carriers word it differently. T-Mobile shows Scam Likely, and Verizon shows Potential Spam.
How AT&T decides a call is Spam Risk
AT&T doesn’t know who is calling; it judges the number. Its terms describe the categories as built from customer complaints and feedback, and say the numbers ActiveArmor users report and block in the app feed in too. A number that suddenly places thousands of short calls, or that many people report, is the kind that ends up labeled.
AT&T is open about the limits: its terms say the service may misidentify some numbers as spam or fraud risk and may block wanted calls. And because the label is about the number, a scammer who fakes a fresh or local number can arrive with no label at all.
How to block Spam Risk calls on AT&T
Everything is in the Calls tab of the AT&T ActiveArmor app, for iPhone and Android, under Call Routing. Each kind of call can be set one of three ways:
| Setting | What the caller gets | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Allow | Your phone rings | The call, with its Spam Risk label |
| Voicemail | Your voicemail, without the phone ringing | A message to listen to, if they leave one |
| Block | The call doesn’t go through | Usually nothing; blocked calls may still count in the app’s total |
Three more settings sit on the same tab:
- Custom lets you route each kind of call separately, for example block telemarketers and surveys but send nonprofits to voicemail.
- Private callers, whose number is hidden, can be allowed, blocked or sent to voicemail. Our No Caller ID guide explains those calls.
- My Block List blocks one number at a time, from your call log, your contacts or typed in. There is no limit to how many.
Fraud Risk calls are set to Block from the start. You can change that in the same place, but there is rarely a reason to.
ActiveArmor Advanced, a paid upgrade, adds caller ID with the caller’s name and location and a reverse number lookup. Blocking doesn’t need it.
Keep the calls you want
- Save the numbers you expect. AT&T says a name saved in your contacts overrides a Spam Risk alert. Pharmacies, the doctor’s office and the bank’s fraud line are worth saving before they call.
- Turn on Always allow contacts in ActiveArmor, so your contacts are never blocked or sent to voicemail. AT&T asks permission to upload your contact list to its servers for this.
- Set up your voicemail. AT&T warns that without an active voice mailbox, calls you route to voicemail from numbers that aren’t in your contacts don’t go through at all.
Spam Risk calls on iPhone and Android
iPhone
The iPhone has its own spam setting that works with AT&T’s. Open Settings, tap Apps, then Phone, and under Call Filtering turn on Spam. Calls flagged as spam are silenced, sent to voicemail and kept in a separate list. On the same screen, Screen Unknown Callers with Ask Reason for Calling makes a stranger give a name and a reason before the iPhone rings. Step by step in how to stop spam calls on iPhone.
Android
Phone by Google: three dots, Settings, Caller ID and spam, then Filter spam calls. Samsung Galaxy: Phone app, three dots, Settings, Caller ID and spam protection, then Block spam and scam calls. See how to block spam calls on Android for the rest.
On a home phone, the options are fewer. Our guide to scam calls on a landline covers what works there.
If you answered a Spam Risk call
- Hang up as soon as you hear a recording or a pitch you didn’t ask for. Don’t press a key to “opt out”.
- Don’t confirm your name, address or date of birth, and don’t say “yes” to a question you didn’t follow.
- Never read out a code that was texted to you. A real company never calls to ask for it.
- Report the number in ActiveArmor, which helps AT&T label it for others, and to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov if it was a scam.
If your own number shows as Spam Risk
If customers tell you your calls arrive as Spam Risk on AT&T, ask for a review at att.com/reviewmycalllabel. Labels are set per carrier, so check the others as well: Verizon takes requests at voicespamfeedback.com, and T-Mobile at callreporting.t-mobile.com. Registering your numbers and business name at the Free Caller Registry, which T-Mobile points businesses to, helps the networks recognize your calls.
How PhoneShield handles Spam Risk calls
With PhoneShield, the phone forwards its calls to PhoneShield’s front desk. A call that arrives already labeled Spam Risk or Fraud Risk is refused before anything rings, and it shows in the family’s call list with the label as the reason. The people the family has said yes to are never refused for a label: favorites, saved contacts and anyone with a temporary pass ring straight through.
The label only covers numbers AT&T has already learned about. For everything else, PhoneShield checks its shared scam list and FTC complaints, then has the front desk ask unknown callers who they are and why they are calling. The person you are protecting hears only from callers who answered.
PhoneShield is $29.99 a month for one line and works with AT&T, including a home phone with call forwarding. See the plan.
Questions people ask
What does Spam Risk mean on my phone?
It is AT&T's warning that an incoming call is probably unwanted: a robocall, a sales pitch or a mass dialer. AT&T shows it where the caller's name would be, sometimes with the kind of call it thinks it is. The number shown is the one the call came from.
Is a Spam Risk call a scam?
Not always. Spam Risk covers unwanted calls in general, from telemarketers and political calls to surveys. AT&T's label for likely scams is Fraud Risk, and those calls are blocked automatically unless you changed the setting. A scam can still arrive as Spam Risk, or with no label at all, so let unexpected calls go to voicemail.
What is the difference between Spam Risk and Fraud Risk?
Spam Risk is a call AT&T thinks is unwanted; you decide whether those ring, go to voicemail or get blocked. Fraud Risk is a call AT&T thinks is a scam; ActiveArmor blocks those by default so the phone never rings.
How do I block Spam Risk calls on AT&T?
Install the free AT&T ActiveArmor app and open the Calls tab. Under Call Routing, set spam calls to Block or to Voicemail, or choose Custom to decide by kind of call: telemarketers, political, account services, nonprofits, surveys and other. Sending calls to voicemail needs a voice mailbox that is set up.
Is AT&T ActiveArmor free?
Yes. AT&T says the call protection is free with every AT&T wireless plan, through the ActiveArmor app. ActiveArmor Advanced is a paid upgrade that adds caller ID by name and location and a reverse number lookup.
Why does a number I know show up as Spam Risk?
AT&T scores numbers by how they behave and by complaints, and it says the labels can be wrong. Offices that call many people from one line, and numbers scammers have faked, get caught. Save the number in your contacts: AT&T says a contact's name overrides a Spam Risk alert. In ActiveArmor you can also turn on Always allow contacts.
How do I stop Spam Risk calls on iPhone?
Set ActiveArmor's spam routing to Voicemail or Block. On the iPhone itself, open Settings, Apps, Phone, and turn on Spam under Call Filtering, so calls flagged as spam are silenced and sent to voicemail. Screen Unknown Callers, on the same screen, makes unknown numbers say who they are first.
Should I answer a Spam Risk call?
Only if you are expecting a call from a number you don't know. Otherwise let it go to voicemail. If you answer and it is a recording or a pitch you didn't ask for, hang up without pressing any keys.