It is not a surprise for anyone that the so -called fraudulent have become one of the big problems that are affecting the user of the telecommunications sector. A scenario that has not only become uncontrollable in Spain, also in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, whose regulator has opted for its total restriction.
The wave of Spam calls That we suffer for a few months with greater intensity does not understand borders. Spain is not the only country in which we suffer in our day to day fraudulent calls That they seek, for the most part, to get our personal or banking data or sell us any product or service for which we have not shown interest previously, something that is not allowed by law.
Some years ago, identifying them was something simpler than at present, since the use of foreign prefixes. However, once the companies that are dedicated to this type of practices have understood that national prefixes always provide an extra security for the user, has become a regular that scammers try to falsify their numbers and to date them with a prefix National, even if they call anywhere else in the world. In the United Kingdom, aware of the dimensions of the problem, they have made a drastic decision through ofcom, the local telecommunications regulator: the operators will be obliged to Block any call from abroad that shows a local telephone number.
Foreign numbers, in trouble
From now on, telephone companies have a duty to Identify and block any call that is carried out from abroad and falsely shows a national numbering.
Although the measure entered into force yesterday, the local operator BT applied this same measure voluntarily for some time and has affirmed that it has managed to prevent them from entering its network up to one million calls per day during the first month of implementation . Some numbers that demonstrate the magnitude of the problem we face and that it seems that it is a problem that is affecting the companies in the rest of the countries around our environment equally.
The case of Spain
In Spain, last July, the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function has already announced a measures plan aimed at fight telephone scams and through SMS. Some of the actions that announced that they were going to be carried out during the next months consisted of the blockade of calls and SMS of national numbering, but with international origin, which is the same case to which we have previously referred.
The public body, knowledge that the scams of Identity Supplant They follow the same common pattern that goes through disguising a national number to gain the confidence of their potential victims, seeks to restrict the range of options that these types of companies currently available.
This package of measures was prepared after having launched in early 2024 a public consultation that had an important participation by the telecommunications companies of our country, but has not yet entered into force.
