Comms Council UK and NTS to Help Crackdown on Telephone Fraud

The Comms Council UK, which represents the UK’s national Unified Communications and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone industry, has today announced a new “joint information sharing initiative” with National Trading Standards (NTS) that aims to help “crack down on telephone fraud“.

The announcement, which drops on the same day as Ofcom separately introduced new measures to block foreign scam calls from UK landlines (here), will enable CCUK’s members to share information on fraudulent behaviour more easily, both within the CCUK membership and with relevant industry stakeholders.

Members of CCUK are thus being invited to share reports of potential misuse with the NTS Scams Team, which will allow them to take action against such activity and that in turn could potentially save some victims from suffering “substantial financial losses“.

Tracey Wright, Chair of CCUK, said:

“We are delighted to be working with National Trading Standards Scams Team on this initiative, which is both incredibly timely and necessary. There is no single solution to resolve the great challenge which fraud presents to our industry, but it is essential that we take a proactive approach. The telecoms sector has a key role to play in implementing greater reporting and analysis of fraud, which will provide a solid foundation to promptly and effectively reduce criminal behaviour executed through telephone calls.”

Louise Baxter MBE, Head of the NTS Scams Team, said:

“Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and inventive in finding ways to scam or defraud individuals and businesses via calls, messaging and texts. I believe that our experience in managing such scenarios for other industries, combined with the wealth of information held within CCUK’s membership, will stand us in good stead to greatly reduce fraudulent activity in the telecoms sector. We are delighted with this partnership.”

As part of this, CCUK will host its inaugural Fraud Summit on 5th March 2025 at One Birdcage Walk in London, which will be open to both members and non-members alike – bringing together representatives from sectors such as telecoms and banking, as well as regulators, law enforcement bodies, and civil servants to share insights on how to tackle fraud effectively.