Ofcom Warn UK People to Watch for Scammers Impersonating the Regulator
The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has warned consumers that fraudsters are attempting to impersonate them. In short, some people have received calls from scammers, which claim that services (e.g. broadband, phone etc.) have been fraudulently taken out in their name, when this is not the case.
The scammers will then ask for personal information (inc. financial details) and falsely claim they will transfer the victim to the police. So far, Ofcom says the scammers have successfully spoofed telephone numbers which make it appear as though the calls are legitimately coming from Ofcom. These include 020 7981 3040, 020 7981 3000 and 0300 123 3333.
However, while these calls might look legitimate, the regulator states “there are no circumstances in which Ofcom will call you out of the blue to ask for your personal or financial details“. Consumers who receive such a call should thus not share any personal/financial details and put the phone down. After that it’s recommended to report the call to Action Fraud.
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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It’s time OfCom withdrew the agreement that 3rd party companies who install delivery numbers* allowing them to operate.
* Delivery Number – that’s the number seen by the call recipient.
there is no installation of delivery numbers, no idea what that is. In the old days we had ‘Presentation numbers’ which you had to prove to BT you owned the number. Then BT lost control. The failure was that BT and Ofcom allowed untrusted providers to transit calls and display any old CLI they fancy with no ramifications. These calls should be easily traced and the carrier who allowed the call with the spoofed CLI should be dealt with!
@Dirk A bureaucrat doing what they are paid to do? Heavens no. It’s someone else’s responsibility not theirs.
Ofcom need to add their numbers to the DNO list they maintain.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/scam-calls-and-messages/do-not-originate