How it works

Spam is a pricing problem.

Spam calls and unsolicited DMs exist because reaching strangers is free. Mia Relay puts a small, refundable price on it — enough to be invisible to a friend, enough to be ruinous to a scam call centre.

The four steps

From verified signup to trusted conversation.

1

Get verified

Everyone on Mia Relay proves who they are before they can call or message anyone. No anonymous accounts, no burner numbers. We don't show your verification details to other users — they just see that the green tick is real.

2

Reach out, with a deposit in escrow

To start a conversation with someone you aren't connected to, you put a small refundable deposit into escrow. The recipient sees who you are, your message, and the deposit attached.

3

They accept — you get every penny back

If the recipient accepts you as a contact, your deposit is returned in full and you're connected. From then on, calls and messages between you are free and instant, like any normal messenger.

4

They decline — they keep half

If the recipient declines, the platform keeps half of the deposit and the recipient keeps the other half. Screening out a spammer literally pays. Spammers, who'd lose half on every miss, can't afford the maths.

Why this works

Spam works because email and the phone network treat sending a message as free. A scammer can blast a million calls a day and only needs a handful to bite. The defenders — filters, do-not-call lists, voicemail screening — are always one step behind because the attacker pays nothing for failure.

Mia Relay changes the incentive directly. If your hit rate is 1%, ninety-nine out of every hundred outreach attempts cost you half your deposit. Even a tiny deposit makes that arithmetic catastrophic for anyone running a spam operation. For an ordinary person trying to add a friend they bumped into? You'll get accepted and your deposit comes straight back. You'll never feel it.

What you'll never see on Mia Relay

Unsolicited cold-call sales pitches. The economics don't work.
Robocalls and number spoofing. Every caller is verified and tied to a real identity.
Group chats you didn't agree to join. Groups need every member's acceptance.
Ads in your inbox. We sell the service, not your attention.

Important: the deposit isn't a fee — it's an escrowed bond. If you act in good faith and someone you reached out to accepts you, you get all of it back. The only people who lose money on Mia Relay are people the rest of the network has rejected.

Already trusted? Nothing changes.

Deposits only apply when you start a conversation with someone you aren't already connected to. Once two people are on each other's contact list, calls, messages, group chats and file sharing are completely free and unmetered — included in your platform subscription.

Ready to take the spam out of your day?

Mia Relay is in private beta. Drop us your details and we'll get you onboarded.

Join the beta