Ofcom has today opened two separate investigations into telecoms providers, Vonage Business Limited and Voxbone SA, relating to concerns that telephone numbers held by the companies are being misused, including to perpetrate scams.
Ofcom allocates telephone numbers, usually in large blocks, to telecoms firms. Telecoms providers can then transfer those numbers to other businesses or individuals.
In line with Ofcom’s number rules to protect consumers and industry guidance, phone companies must take appropriate steps to ensure 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. Companies must also take steps to ensure that numbers are being used correctly in accordance with the National Telephone Numbering Plan.
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 and respond proactively to any incidents of misuse that are reported to them.
We have gathered information which has raised concerns about the use of numbers allocated to Vonage Business Limited and Voxbone SA. Specifically, our investigations will seek to establish whether both companies have complied with the relevant requirements of General Condition B1, including obligations relating to the effective and efficient use of numbers, and the steps taken to oversee their use.
Ongoing enforcement action
Today’s investigations fall under our enforcement programme looking specifically at phone and text scams. The aim of this programme is to protect customers by supporting best practice in the use of phone numbers and to ensure providers are following Ofcom’s rules.
We will gather further information and provide an update on these two investigations in due course. Should we have reasonable grounds to suspect that any other companies have broken our rules we may launch further investigations which will be published on our enforcement bulletin page.
On your side
Ofcom has recently launched a new online Consumer Hub - www.ofcom.org.uk/onyourside - offering a wealth of tips, including around how to protect yourself against scams, alongside money-saving advice, help with common service problems and routes to complain.
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