Ofcom orders phone networks to block foreign scam calls

[WaveJumper]

I see the BBC reporting Ofcom and the networks now springing in to action but should this not have been done years ago and is it going to work

"Major phone networks have agreed to automatically block almost all internet calls coming from abroad if they pretend to be from UK numbers, Ofcom has confirmed".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59032795

 

[Anthony Phillips]

Be interesting to see how this works out, many companies base their telecoms on VOIP systems and operate internationally (myself included) , and this is of course more prevalent as more companies go to a more distributed business model of operation from part home part office.

If I am not mistaken one of my VOIP providers is in Nederlands, I am in the UK and I regularly call USA and South Africa, and staff in SA the same from their VOIP provider in SA, so I think it will have to be some great tech to unscramble what is real traffic from spam traffic.

 

[IanSuth]

Be interesting to see how this works out, many companies base their telecoms on VOIP systems and operate internationally (myself included) , and this is of course more prevalent as more companies go to a more distributed business model of operation from part home part office.

If I am not mistaken one of my VOIP providers is in Nederlands, I am in the UK and I regularly call USA and South Africa, and staff in SA the same from their VOIP provider in SA, so I think it will have to be some great tech to unscramble what is real traffic from spam traffic.

Surely if the point at which it enters the UK phone system is in the UK it can't tell where the VOIP call originated, it just means the scammers will have to use a provider with a UK point of presence which would theoretically give a target for law enforcement but it is not like that entry point will be a company office

 

[Aniela]

It's not like these callers are only calling a handful of people a day. They must be some of the largest callers in terms of volume on the VOIP networks.

Shouldn't VOIP networks be required by law to have some sort of quality checks, for large volume callers?

 

[Deleted member 59730]

I have said for a long time that the way to stop scam calls is to fine BT millions a day until they block them. Prison for the CEO would focus minds. There are technical solutions and there have been for years.