Copyright dailystar
Scammers who hide behind fake numbers will be named and shamed under a new scheme. The Home Office will unmask those who use fake phone numbers to try and scam innocent Brits out of money. The UK Government have launched a new partnership with Britain’s biggest phone companies to protect the public from fraud. The new agreement between government and industry will see a raft of measures to safeguard the UK’s mobile network from fraud. The changed will make it harder to trick people through scam calls work Britain’s biggest mobile networks also onboard, having committed to upgrade their network within the next year to eliminate the ability for foreign call centres to spoof UK numbers, making it clear that calls are originating from abroad. Data shows that 96% of mobile users decide whether to answer a call based on the number displayed on their screen, with three-quarters unlikely to pick up if it's from an unknown international number. Advanced call tracing technology will also be rolled out to give police the intelligence to track down scammers operating across the country and dismantle their operations. BT, EE, VodafoneThree and Virgin Media O2 are just some of the big name companies who have opted in. Minister for Fraud, Lord Hanson said: “Spoofed calls allow scammers to deceive the public with fake identities and false promises. This government is committed to tackling fraud. “In a major upgrade of our mobile network, call spoofing will be eliminated within a year - stripping away the tools scammers use to cheat people out of their hard-earned cash. “We’re stepping up our defences to protect victims and make sure the UK is the hardest place in the world for scammers to operate.”
