Comms Council UK publish data-sharing guidance for tackling telephone fraud

The Comms Council UK, which represents the national Unified Communications and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone industry, has this morning published its data-sharing guidance – produced with support from the Home Office, Ofcom, and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – for tackling telephone-enabled fraud (e.g. scam calls and messages).

The guidance is designed to give UK telecoms providers of all sizes the confidence to share data lawfully with industry partners, law enforcement, and fraud prevention organisations in order to “detect and disrupt fraud faster and protect consumers“.

In the past communications providers have not always been clear nor confident as to how they can lawfully share data of suspected fraudsters on their networks, which is a problem because better industry collaboration is seen as a key way of tackling telephone-enabled fraud.

The new guide aims to help address that by explaining what types of data-sharing are lawful, what frameworks exist to support it, and how to get started. “This gives providers, and their legal and data protection teams, the assurance that appropriate data sharing to prevent fraud is lawful and necessary,” said the announcement.

The guidance also includes real examples of what data-sharing and collaboration can achieve: in one case, cross-industry analysis of network data identified an “SMS blaster” being used to mass send fraudulent texts, leading to an arrest, conviction, and sentencing. In another, telecoms provider data was shared with financial institutions to identify potential business victims of fraud, where banks were able to investigate and add additional fraud monitoring and controls.

Lord Hanson, Fraud Minister at the Home Office, said:

“I welcome the publication of this guidance which will help communications providers share information more effectively to identify and disrupt fraud. This marks an important step in delivering on the commitments made through the Telecom Fraud Sector Charter and toward keeping the public safe from scams.

Only by working in close collaboration between industry, government and law enforcement will we make it harder for fraudsters to operate and better protect the public.”

Tracey Wright, Chair of Comms Council UK, said:

“For too long, telecoms providers haven’t had the confidence to appropriately share information to disrupt fraud. This guidance, developed with Ofcom, the Home Office and the ICO, changes that. We’re proud to have led on this work as a signatory of the government’s Fraud Charter, and the real-world examples included in this guidance prove this will have a real, tangible impact of stopping more fraud and scams – in one case study alone, millions of victims were protected.

We are committed to continue to working with govenrment, regulators and industry to fight fraud and scams on our networks and support our members in doing so ”

This guidance itself can be viewed here: Sharing data to tackle fraud: Guidance for telecoms providers.