Ofcom has today opened an investigation into whether communications provider, Tismi, has taken appropriate steps to ensure that phone numbers allocated to it are not being misused, including to perpetrate scams.
Ofcom allocates telephone numbers, usually in large blocks, to telecoms firms. They can then transfer the numbers to individuals or other businesses.
In line with Ofcom’s consumer protection rules and industry guidance, phone companies must ensure that numbers we have allocated to them are not misused by businesses or individuals they have transferred them to. Misuse of numbers could, for example, include using them to facilitate scam calls and texts.
In order for phone companies to tackle misuse of numbers, we expect them, among other things, to carry out ‘know your customer’ due diligence checks on their business customers to prevent scammers from accessing valid numbers in the first place. Additionally, they should keep the level of risk posed by a business customer under review by monitoring for potential number misuse.
We have gathered information which has led us to believe that numbers allocated to Tismi are potentially being misused. The evidence suggests that Tismi may have suballocated numbers without taking appropriate steps to ensure that they are not being misused.
Our investigation will seek to establish whether Tismi has failed to comply with its obligations in this area – specifically General Conditions B1.4, B1.6, B1.8, B1.9(b) and B1.9(c).
Ongoing enforcement programme
This investigation falls under an enforcement programme, launched earlier this year, looking specifically at phone and text scams. The aim of this Programme is to support best practice in relation to the use of phone numbers and to ensure that providers are following Ofcom’s rules.
We have identified several companies with increased or consistently high levels of complaints during March and April 2024. As a result, we issued a formal demand for information to them to assess how effectively they are tackling scam calls and texts, including the preventative measures they have in place. We are now exploring whether those providers may be misusing numbers or otherwise failing to comply with our rules.
Should we have reasonable grounds to suspect that our rules have been broken, we may launch further investigations which will be published on our enforcement bulletin page.