Alex Trelinski
COMPANIES and public bodies in Spain will be banned from making spam phone calls via mobile numbers to cut down on potential scammers
It’s part of a package of government measures to prevent identity theft scams that are carried out on phones or via text messaging(SMS) which include links to bogus websites to grab personal details.
But its not the end for cold calls, as firms will be allowed to use registered 900 or 800 numbers.
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The Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, Oscar Lopez, said the new law includes an obligation for service providers to block calls and texts involving unregistered numbers.
The theory is that such numbers are a strong indication that crimes involving identity theft could be happening.
Phone service providers will also have to block international calls that pretend to have originated from a Spanish number.
Scam calls usually come from foreign countries, such as the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, where Spanish numbers are simulated.
Operators will also be obliged to block spam texts assigned to an alphanumeric code if the details are not registered with the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC).
The CNMC will create a database in which any public or private entity that wants to use this type of text with an alphanumeric code must be registered with them.
Failure to comply with the measures means that transgressors could be fined up to €2 million for breaking the General Telecommunications Law.
Similar measures have already been implemented in France, Germany, Belgium, and Finland.
Oscar Lopez says the changes have been made ‘after months of work’ with the telephone operators, who have been involved in adopting the measures.
“We are at the forefront of Europe,” said Lopez, who referred to countries such as Finland, which have taken ‘very similar’ measures and ‘have reduced 90% of scams’.
The changes will start within 20 days of being published in the Official Government Gazette(BOE), but some aspects will take a lot longer to hit the statute book.
For example, the measures over texts with alphanumeric codes will come into force 15 months after the publication of the order.
