ComReg is seeking to reduce the €300m lost by consumers to fraud each year, but will not rush into the adoption of STIR/SHAKEN protocols
The regulator outlines six interventions to address nuisance communications
On 3 April 2024, ComReg published its response to a consultation, and its decisions, on network-based interventions to reduce the harm from nuisance communications. Having received broadly positive stakeholder feedback to the consultation issued in June 2023, the regulator has now confirmed a package of six interventions designed to mitigate the “ongoing scourge” of scam calls and texts:
A Do-Not-Originate list, which allows businesses and organisations to secure their numbers by blocking those numbers not used to contact consumers and preventing scammers from spoofing these numbers;
A Protected Number list to stop fraudsters using numbers that are not yet in service or have yet to be allocated to a telecoms operator prior to entering service;
Fixed CLI Blocking to stop fraudsters abroad spoofing Irish geographic numbers (e.g. 01-xx) to make scam voice calls;
Mobile CLI Blocking to stop fraudsters abroad spoofing Irish mobile numbers (e.g. 087-xx) to make scam voice calls;
A Voice Firewall to block spam calls wherever they arise (i.e. Ireland or abroad) and protect against more sophisticated scams in the future; and
An SMS ID Registry, which allows businesses and organisations to register a SMS Sender ID while blocking those that are not on the Register.
The economic and social value of the measures will far outweigh the cost of their implementation
ComReg’s conservative estimate of the total quantifiable harm to Ireland’s society arising from scam calls and texts is over €300m (£256.4m) per annum. However, it estimates that the benefit of its interventions, once implemented, will equate to around €1.2bn (£1.03bn) over the next seven years. When combined, the measures should bring around 55 times more in economic and social benefit than the cost operators will face in securing their networks to reduce the rate of scam calls and texts. It is now for operators to implement the interventions, which have timelines of between six and 18 months. While ComReg consulted on mandating the introduction of an SMS Scam Filter, it is unable to do so at this time due to a lack of legislative basis. Nevertheless, it will commence a separate consultation within the coming months on other options to address SMS scams, noting the importance of tackling the issue given that other English-speaking countries have already introduced full SMS Scam Filters while some EU Member States (including Belgium, Poland and Spain) have made such interventions or are planning to do so.
Though some countries have implemented STIR/SHAKEN protocols, ComReg does not see it as a viable option at this time
In the consultation, ComReg also outlined its preliminary view that STIR/SHAKEN – a set of technical standards and protocols that allow for the authentication and verification of caller ID information for calls carried over IP networks – is currently not a valid regulatory option at this time, a position also reached by Ofcom in the UK. Among other things, ComReg considered the intervention’s success depends on effective deployment across multiple different jurisdictions and only a few countries have implemented it to date. According to our Consumer Protection Tracker, the list includes the US, Canada, Brazil and France. ComReg has now confirmed this view, adding that the introduction of STIR/SHAKEN in Ireland may have some merit as a potential solution to reduce consumer harm from spoofed CLIs in the future, and stating that it intends to monitor the development and adoption of this framework, especially in the event other measures fail to deliver.
