In reply to a post by tommy45:

And The reason why they have ignored the democratic will of 17.4 million people for nearly 3 years regardless of what you voted for LEAVE WON

Yawn, yawn, yawn. You won, get over it!

This issue is not anything that the Gov should be involved in.
They already have Quango (Ofcom) to regulate the industry.

If the industry got off their backsides they could solve the problem. But I think the issue is they will then lose income.

Perhaps the answer is that if anyone loses £££ through their lack of action, then they have to refund the victim.

That would soon focus their attention on solving a problem of their own making.

Removed political rant.

BT have two linked systems, one is implemented in some of their DECT handsets that require a key press or two to block a number. The second is accessed through the BT account page where recent received call numbers can be added to your block list with two clicks.

I do not know if the numbers that I block propagate to a system wide block list. I don't see how that would be workable, as many of the spoofed UK numbers are real and belong to genuine subscribers- I checked.

Whilst reading these posts (thanks) another question came to mind about VOIP and the numbers used.
In my case the number looked like (or was) a genuine number calling me hence the reason I took the call. I did phone the number back and the BT type response said the number wasn't recognised.

I think on one of the posts on this thread someone said any number can be spoofed and I was wondering because of this couldn't someone find that their legitimate line was being used to scam people? So I guess these scammers must have to find out first which lines are active or not? Or could they use for example a made up area code and use that with any number in the correct format etc? Will the technology behind caller display as an example just read out any used number legitimate or not?

Edited by Vorlon (Sat 15-Jun-19 18:13:33)

Vorlon

They have used live numbers but these are usually the more sophisticated scams to do with HMRC/Financial institutions. They then use/used valid numbers so that the call seemed real.

Most of them use invalid ranges which are easy to source from OFCOM code lists that are published. The computer doing the connection just picks a random number from the range for inserting in the CLI field.

If you try to return the call you will get "the number dialled has not been recognised" as the whole range is not in the dial plans.

OFCOM is looking at a system whereby all CLIs are checked for validity and this is out for consultation with operators at present. It is fairly easy to do on VOIP systems from a central database of issued ranges.but very difficult to do on PSTN type systems. However as practically all the spammed calls originate or transit VOIP networks this may cut the numbers down significantly until originators find other ways around it. This is likely to use valid numbers and a 2nd strand to OFCOMs proposals was to validate whether the call came from the range owning operator, messy due to number portability but possible if a number ported database lookup is instituted which would also improve the routing of ported calls.

Approx 40% of my blocked numbers are real. 75% of the calls I get are BT scams. I had a quick look at my blocked list on My BT, and googled some numbers. Businesses show up in such a search ofc, private subscribers will not.

So I cannot see that a CLI check system will work.

In ISDN2 days terminal adapters could be made to differentiate between CLI network supplied and verified against user supplied and unverified. Now if that still exists in the protocol...����...

It does in the C7 variant, but VOIP networks are capable of spoofing. However if the call is originated in this country OFCOM can put the originator out of business. If Originated abroad it is suggested that the Transit Operator would be blacklisted if numbers are spoofed with UK CLIs. This would put pressure on transit operators to police their originating customers.

VOIP and VPNs make it very messy as it is not always easy to trace the call to an originating source and even tell which country a call originates in. Blocking all Overseas calls with UK CLIs would cause a major outcry.

All those people using VPNs and then VOIP would be unpleasantly surprised if their calls suddenly stopped working! Many on here would be screaming!

In reply to a post by kitcat:

VOIP and VPNs make it very messy as it is not always easy to trace the call to an originating source and even tell which country a call originates in. Blocking all Overseas calls with UK CLIs would cause a major outcry.

Startiung with BT. They have quite a few teams located overseas who use a UK number. Although I wonder if BT do block the BT 0800 numbers when originating from an unknown or alternate source.