Nuisance Communications

Nuisance Communications – Scam Calls and Text Messages

ComReg is actively working with the telecoms industry to mitigate the scourge of scam texts and calls in Ireland. Since early 2022, ComReg and the telecoms industry have been working together to restore trust in our telecommunications.

Research conducted for ComReg in late 2022 shows that over 90 per cent of adults in Ireland have received a scam call to their mobile phone in the last year, while 84 per cent have received some form of scam text. The harm due to scam calls and texts is not just limited to direct financial fraud, there are also serious impacts upon people’s wellbeing and emotional state.

The Nuisance Communications Industry Taskforce (NCIT), which includes ComReg and representatives of telecoms industry, including fixed and mobile telecoms operators, meets regularly to develop what interventions are needed and how to implement them.

Nuisance communications are not unique to Ireland – it is a global problem and ComReg is engaging and collaborating with other regulators, both within the EU and further afield to develop ways to combat nuisance communications, particularly with those in the anglosphere. This is because, as an English-speaking country, Irish residents are targeted disproportionately compared with their EU counterparts as fraudsters can move seamlessly between other English-speaking countries, focussing their resources on countries where scams are more likely to have the highest success rate. It is inevitable that fraudsters will continue to target and commit more fraud in countries that lack adequate protection and English-speaking countries such as Ireland are likely to experience this the most.

The list summarises ComReg’s activities so far as we move to combat nuisance communications:

  • IN 23/01 Nuisance Communications: Scam Calls & Texts – Best Practice Guide for Businesses and Organisations. On the 13 January 2023, ComReg published document 23/01, and Information Notice providing a Best Practice Guide for Businesses and Organisations.

 

  • IN 22/114 Nuisance Communications: Fixed CLI Blocking Intervention Arrangements for International Operations. On the 20 December 2022, ComReg published document 22/114, and Information Notice providing Fixed Calling Line Identifications Blocking Interventions for International Operators.

 

  • Robert Mourik Canada Commissioner Mourik met with regulators from Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and the USA to discuss ways to combat Nuisance Communications and collaboration at an international level.

 

  • IN 22/86 Nuisance Communications – Launch of ‘Do Not Originate’ Protocol. On 24 October 2022, ComReg published document 22/28, and Information Notice providing information on protocol for the ‘Do Not Originate’ list.

 

  • IN 22/86a Do Not Originate List – Guidance Note for organisations and Application Form. On 24 October 2022, ComReg published document 22/28a, and Information Notice providing information on protocol for the ‘Do Not Originate’ list application form.

 

  • IN 21/129 Nuisance Communications – Formation of the Nuisance Communications Industry Taskforce. On the 20 December 2022, ComReg published document 22/77, and Information Notice providing information on the formation of the Nuisance Communications Industry Taskforce.

 

  • IN 22/77 Nuisance Communications – Update on the Nuisance Communications Industry Taskforce. On the 20 December 2022, ComReg published document 22/77, and Information Notice.

For up-to-date consumer information on scam calls and texts, please follow the link below:

Scam Calls | Scam Phone Numbers | ComReg | Commission for Communications Regulation

The Government, through the Department of Energy, Climate and Communications, has published citizen information on scam calls and texts – ‘Alert on scam phone calls and text messages’, please follow the link below:

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/7ee5e-how-to-protect-yourself-against-scams-or-attempted-fraud/