The problem of scam calls and SMS is the order of the day. And for this reason, the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service is already looking for a solution to stop this plague. To achieve this, they are carrying out a public consultation to see what may be the most effective measure to combat identity theft telephone scams in our country.
Over the years, scams and scams both by telephone and via SMS have become a real headache for everyone, not just in Spain. The problem is that cybercriminals manage to impersonate companies and manage to call with a telephone number with a manipulated origin. In this way they make it easier to deceive users. And this is precisely what the Government wants to regulate.
Identifier manipulation
As confirmed by the Ministry, the main problem with these telephone scams is that they use the manipulation of the CLI call identifier (Calling Line Identification), that is, what identifies the telephone number of the party originating the call or communication. Hence, they manage to deceive users, since they manage to impersonate well-known companies. Something that is even more complicated by the participation of scammers who are outside of Spain.
For this reason, through a public consultation it is intended to find measures that can finally combat this type of fraud. But how do they manage to scam? It’s all the fault of the mobile network. Today it is not secure enough, since the necessary mechanisms are not in place to certify the origin of the call, so cybercriminals can manipulate the origin and it is relatively easy for them to find a number that does not exist. it is real.
Therefore, by manipulating the originating number they make it easier for victims to think they are speaking to a legitimate company when they are not. Hence, the most common methods to carry out this type of scam are:
- Calls from a supposed employee of a financial institution, since his representation has been impersonated.
- Call or SMS impersonating the identity of a public administration or a public service company.
- Impersonation of a technology company of which the user is a client.
- Call in which the identity of a supply company such as electricity or gas is impersonated.
What measures does the Government propose?
To put an end to this problem, the Government exposes a series of measures within telephone calls in which the origin is manipulated. Such as setting a list that directly blocks calls from different number identifiers or collaborating hand in hand with operators to identify calls. And all with the aim of regulating the identification of numbering in Spain.
And not only do we have to take into account telephone scams, there is also fraud through SMS. In these cases, the reality is that scammers have an even easier time impersonating. For this reason, the Government wants to take measures within the scope of numbering and alphanumeric codes identifying messages: SMS, MMS or RCS.
In any case, this public consultation will serve to lay the foundations for future measures that the Government will apply later. And all because, at the moment, it seems that they don’t really know how to handle the situation to nip the problem in the bud.
