Scammers calling Irish consumers from abroad, and making it appear as if they are calling from an Irish number, in a bid to defraud them of cash will have such methods blocked from March 2023, the communications regulator has said.
ComReg said it was taking the fight to fake number fraud and has been working with a dedicated taskforce to tackle this and other scam communications throughout the year.
It comes as scam calls and texts continue to be a “widespread problem” in Ireland.
“Fraud offences have nearly doubled from 9,219 in 2021 to 17,354 in 2022 and An Garda Síochána have indicated that this increase is largely due to scam communications,” the regulator said.
Many companies will use phone numbers that are only used for inbound calls to provide services to customers. Fraudsters will sometimes originate calls to make it look like they are coming from these numbers to trick people into answering calls.
This method is dubbed “spoofing” by the regulator. To address it, ComReg has compiled a “do not originate” list, comprising phone numbers that are never used for outbound calls so they can be blocked by operators.
In October, the Irish Examiner reported that ComReg had told phone companies they must do more to combat the scourge of scam calls and reduce their impact on Irish households.
However, it noted some operators within the Nuisance Communications Industry Taskforce pointed out that business customers in Ireland will often have overseas branch offices and call centres that make calls to Ireland.
They may wish to still use their Irish numbers when contacting customers from such offices.
ComReg said the taskforce had agreed an “intervention specification that allows for this use to continue” while still blocking fraudulent calls.
It is contacting all telephone operators and organisations representing Irish businesses to highlight the situation.
The regulator added: “In March 2023, ComReg will launch a public consultation to set out proposals for the long term. This consultation will also propose new guidance on how telecoms operators should ensure that Irish fixed line numbers are not misused in the future.”
Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41033501.html