Telephone scams, the new rules to say “enough”

All toysillated by telephone scams. In Italy, unwanted calls by call center and telephone scammers represent a widespread and annoying problem: according to a report Published by hiya, a service that offers protection from spam calls and telephone scams, during the fourth quarter of 2024 every Italian citizen received on average 14 Spam calls per monthwith 58% of these identified as harassment or fraudulent.

To counteract this increasingly widespread phenomenon, theAuthority for guarantees in communications has recently laugh new measures that require telephone operators to comply with new rules and block the foreign numbers used for activities of spoofing.

Spoofing, what it is

The spoofing It is an IT deception technique in which an attacker pretends to be someone else to steal sensitive information or make fraud. The term derives from English to spoofwhich means precisely to pretend or disguise, and can take different forms depending on the context in which it is used. Among the various techniques widespread, for example, there is also that of Telephone spoofing: a practice used to obtain personal information, bank data or convince the victim to perform harmful actions as transfers of money, to sign contracts or other activities, to its detriment. In this case, the scammer manipulates the number on the recipient’s display Of a call by making it seem familiar or reliable: in other words, those who receive the phone call sees an untruthful number, often similar to that of banks, public bodies or even contacts present in the address book; This maneuver therefore leads to earn the trust of the person called, pushing it to lower the guard and trust the caller.

The new anti-strict telephone rules

In this regard, Agcom has recently introduced New anti spoofing rules To block the scam calls that seem to come from Italian numbers but actually come from abroad via the Internet.

The regulation requires the implementation of two main filters by telephone operators. The first, to be activated within three months, concerns the fake Italian fixed numbers: Operators will have to block foreign calls that use them illegally. The second filter, more complex and expected within six months, concerns the mobile numbers: before a call starts from abroad to Italy, the operator must verify in real time if that Italian mobile number is assigned to a foreign network, and otherwise, block there call. In summary: only authentic and verifiable numbers will be able to “pass” while fakes will be automatically rejected.

How to defend yourself from telephone scams

The best way to protect yourself is to be aware that the number displayed on the screen, in some cases, may not correspond to the real origin of the call: therefore yes Not recommended to provide sensitive information on the phone if you are absolutely not sure of the identity of the caller; In case of doubt, it is preferable to turn up and attract directly the official number of the body in question.