Microsoft Teams will alert users of incoming spam calls

Microsoft is working on adding a spam call notification feature to the Microsoft 365 Teams collaboration platform.

Once the new feature rolls out, Microsoft Teams will alert Office 365 users when they’re receiving what looks like spam calls.

While incoming calls will be tagged as “spam likely” automatically, Teams users will still be able to decide if they want to answer.

Announced last year, rolling out in late August

As Microsoft Teams General Manager Nicole Herskowitz said, “Teams will identify potential spam calls so you can feel confident answering incoming calls” and “will digitally attest outgoing calls to prevent these calls from being rejected by external recipients.”

“The spam call notification feature automatically evaluates incoming calls and identifies probable spam calls as ‘spam likely’ in the call toast,” Redmond explained on the Microsoft 365 roadmap.

“Users still have the option to answer or reject the call, and all ‘spam likely’ calls (regardless of whether they were answered or rejected) will also be reflected in the call history list.”

Microsoft is planning on rolling out the new feature (initially announced in December 2020) by the end of this month, making it generally available on desktop and the web.

Blocking incoming PSTN calls

Enterprises that use PBX (Private Branch Exchange) phone systems can already block inbound calls originating from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which don’t match a pre-defined list of number patterns at the tenant global level.

Individual Teams client users can also block PSTN calls and manage their blocked numbers by going into the “Edit blocked contacts” menu under Settings > Privacy > Blocked contacts.

They can also block all anonymous incoming calls by toggling on the “Block calls with no caller ID” under “Blocked contacts.”

More info on how to manage your call settings in Teams (e.g., setting call answering rules and adjusting voicemail settings) is available on Microsoft’s Office support website.

In related news, Microsoft is rolling out later Teams end-to-end encryption for 1:1 VoIP calls until the end of this month.

In July, Redmond also extended Defender for Office 365 Safe Links protection to Microsoft Teams to block phishing attempts automatically