OFCOM vs Scam Callers
OFCOM is the UK regulator of phone and Internet services. They are responsible for ensuring these services are safe and effective. Part of their remit is to combat fraud and scams. The days are long gone of when the General Post Office oversaw all the UK phone traffic and the copper wires that it ran on. OFCOM has to deal with a much more complex architecture.
In July 2024 OFCOM published ‘Guidance on the provision of Calling Line Identification facilities and other related services’. They describe this work as ‘strengthened industry guidance’ and indicate that it will apply from 29th January 2025. Their aim is to require Calling Line Identification (CLI) to be shared amongst providers. These will allow the exact origin of a call to be traced, leading back to a network number and associated user. This number might not be the same as the presentation number that the call recipient sees. There are only a very limited number of cases where an International caller can display a UK number to the recipient. The CLI number should always be passed accurately between service providers allowing real callers to be traced and scammers to be shut down. If an ineligible number (one that cannot be dialled) is passed then a provider should stop such a call from going through. The guidance does recognise a need for privacy as a user is able to make a call while withholding their originating phone number. Direct marketing services are explicitly forbidden from withholding the number that they have dialled from. Although not legally binding in itself OFCOM does have the power to take enforcement action against persistent misusers of the services that it governs.
Kindus has discussed the faking of SMS call origin to send bogus traffic for scams and to avoid fees charged by service providers. This requires the connivance of fraudulent or poorly supervised telecom service providers who are not ensuring that correct Calling Line Identification is being passed along the route of the call.
Voice calls are often cited as the entry point to a chain of events leading to a financial scam. Whatever measures that have been put in place on the victim’s computer or on some responsible financial institution can be overcome if the scammed target believes that they are acting in good faith. When banks refund all or part of losses from these scams it is their other investors and shareholders who are taking part of the hit.
OFCOM conducted a survey in 2024 into the frequency and customer experiences of phone calls, texts and App messages. The responses considered landline (953) and mobile users (2,052). Many UK broadband providers do not supply a landline service or charge a premium for it so it is likely that landline use outside of business premises will drop in future. 19% of landline users and 2% of mobile users report that they never answer any calls if they could easily do so. Another survey from 2024 by USwitch of 2,000 adults concludes that 23% of young people aged 18 to 34 never answer their mobile voice calls, citing the chief cause as avoiding SPAM or nuisance calls. Such devices are now being used for purposes other than receiving calls and hence the impact of phone call fraud might drop but voice calls are still common in the business world and voice cloning makes these scams more likely to succeed.
Both mobile and landline users (2,188) stated that they would be less unlikely (58%) to answer a call from an international number that they do not recognise and 43% of 1978 respondents would not answer a caller from a ‘number withheld’ caller. The following suspicious calls were reported:
- 1136 – Texts on a mobile
- 537 – Mobile App such as WhatsApp
- 386 – Live mobile calls
- 236 – Live landline calls
The most common response was to block the number or delete the message. All the respondents followed similar trends, for example; 25% of suspect texts were reported, 22% told family and friends, 2% acted as instructed by the caller. The OFCOM official scam text reporting and forwarding number is 7726 but 76% of the 2,052 respondents had never heard of the service. The equivalent response for voice calls in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be ‘Action Fraud’ on 0300 123 2040.
