UK Carriers to Block Spoofed Phone Numbers in Fraud Crackdown
An Anonymous Coward writes:
Under a new partnership with the government aimed at combating fraud, Britain's largest mobile carriers have committed to upgrading their networks to eliminate scammers' ability to spoof phone numbers within a year.
This agreement is part of the new Telecoms Charter, which brings together law enforcement, government agencies, and Britain's top mobile networks, including BT EE, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone Three, Tesco Mobile, TalkTalk, and Sky.
It requires carriers to upgrade their networks to indicate when calls originate from abroad, preventing fraudsters from impersonating banks, government agencies, and other trusted organizations.
"Advanced call tracing technology will also be rolled out across mobile networks to give police the intelligence to track down scammers operating across the country and dismantle their operations," the UK Home Office said in a Wednesday press release.
"New commitments to boost data sharing with the police will shine a light on the mobile networks that let scam calls slip through the net, empowering customers and making it harder for scams to go undetected."
[...] According to data shared by the UK government today, 96% of mobile users check caller ID before answering, with three-quarters blocking calls from unknown international numbers, a trend exploited by scammers who spoof UK numbers to appear local and trustworthy.
"Spoofed calls allow scammers to deceive the public with fake identities and false promises. In a major upgrade of our mobile network, call spoofing will be eliminated within a year - stripping away the tools scammers use to cheat people out of their hard-earned cash," said Minister for Fraud Lord Hanson.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.