Ofcom forces phone networks to block scammers posing as fraudsters

Households will be better protected against scammers calling from abroad and imitating genuine UK landline numbers thanks to a crackdown by regulator Ofcom.

Phishing is a convincing scam where criminals change their caller ID, making it appear as if they are calling from a legitimate, trusted number.

This allows scammers to appear more credible when impersonating real organizations, such as banks or government departments.

Foreign scammers use this technique when scamming UK victims, as they know that Brits are less likely to answer a call from an unknown international number.

But now phone companies will have to identify and block calls from abroad that falsely display a UK landline number, under new Ofcom rules.

These plans to block fake calls were first raised by Ofcom in February 2022.

Some phone companies, such as BT, have already been doing this and claim to block up to a million fraudulent calls a day.

Ofcom is also consulting on how to refine these rules, as there are other ways foreign fraudsters can still call the UK – for example by spoofing mobile numbers – which are not covered by the new rules.

Ofcom has not asked phone companies to block overseas numbers beginning with +447, as doing so could block genuine calls from British visitors abroad calling home.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications, said: ‘Criminals who defraud people by exploiting telephone networks cause enormous suffering and financial harm to their victims.

‘While there are encouraging signs that fraudulent calls and texts are on the decline, they remain widespread and we continue to press the accelerator to find new and innovative ways to address the problem.

‘Thanks to our strengthened industry guidance, millions more fraudulent calls from abroad using spoofed UK landline numbers will be blocked – similar plans are in place for calls spoofing UK mobile numbers.’

How common are suspicious calls and text messages?

In 2024, just under half of UK landline users (48 per cent) said they had received a suspicious call in the past three months, up from 56 per cent in 2021.

Mobile users also reported a decrease in receiving suspicious calls, from 45 percent to 39 percent during the same period.

Mobile users are the most likely to receive a suspicious text message, although the incidence has also decreased from 74 percent in 2021 to 56 percent in 2024.

Mobile phone company EE says two-thirds of UK adults have received a suspicious call or text message this year.

EE said more than half (51 per cent) of Britons felt anxious when receiving a call from an unknown number.