About time, we used to get several a week until TalkTalk gave customers a free call manger meaning people phoning have to give their name before being allowed through, they are told to hold and you hear the name they give if you don't recognise the person or don't want to speak to them you simply press a key to permanently block them.
Some 40.8 million people are estimated (three quarters of UK population) to have had a suspect call or text in the last three months and the latest rule changes for telephone companies in the UK should hopefully have a significant impact on this scourge.
Ofcom is now requiring phone companies to identify and block 'spoofed calls' where posssible. This means improving the accuracy of Caller Line ID i.e. the phone number of the incoming call shown just before you answer a call on your landline handset or mobile phone. Currently it is common practice amongst scammers to clone the actual number of a bank or other consumer service when calling people as the first step towards gaining trust and scamming people out of money.
This requirement is the final decision after a consultation period that happened in February 2022.
Some firms have already improved the blocking of spoofed caller id, Ofcom has shared the stat that TalkTalk saw a 65% reduction in complaints about scam callls after implementing systems to identify fake numbers from abroad where they are attempting to re-use a number already allocated in the UK.
There is a six-month grace period for firms to implement the rules which will come into force in May 2023. We presume that after that date Ofcom will be collecting data on what effect the new rules have.
IMPORTANT: This rule change does not guarantee that you will receive no scam calls or texts. So the distrust you have developed over incoming calls and texts needs to remain in place.
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/9365-phone-companies-to-be-required-to-block-spoofed-calls
Some 40.8 million people are estimated (three quarters of UK population) to have had a suspect call or text in the last three months and the latest rule changes for telephone companies in the UK should hopefully have a significant impact on this scourge.
Ofcom is now requiring phone companies to identify and block 'spoofed calls' where posssible. This means improving the accuracy of Caller Line ID i.e. the phone number of the incoming call shown just before you answer a call on your landline handset or mobile phone. Currently it is common practice amongst scammers to clone the actual number of a bank or other consumer service when calling people as the first step towards gaining trust and scamming people out of money.
This requirement is the final decision after a consultation period that happened in February 2022.
Some firms have already improved the blocking of spoofed caller id, Ofcom has shared the stat that TalkTalk saw a 65% reduction in complaints about scam callls after implementing systems to identify fake numbers from abroad where they are attempting to re-use a number already allocated in the UK.
There is a six-month grace period for firms to implement the rules which will come into force in May 2023. We presume that after that date Ofcom will be collecting data on what effect the new rules have.
IMPORTANT: This rule change does not guarantee that you will receive no scam calls or texts. So the distrust you have developed over incoming calls and texts needs to remain in place.
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/9365-phone-companies-to-be-required-to-block-spoofed-calls
Last edited:
