SCAMBlock Supports Global Move to Stop Spam Calls
Spam risk phone calls are the scourge of communication service providers (CSPs) around the globe. These calls not only expose customers to risks of fraud, but can damage the reputation of CSPs and require significant resources to react and respond to scammers while providing appropriate customer service to those affected by scams.
The question of how to block likely scam calls has long been a challenge for the telecommunications industry. This has led to regulators and proactive CSPs actively introducing measures to eliminate risk.
In the US and Canada, regulators have mandated use of STIR/SHAKEN technologies to flag and stop spam calls reaching customers. The European Union has introduced a raft of laws limiting spam and robocalls under its sweeping GDPR data-privacy legislation, as well as legislation such as The Telecommunications Act. The EU now operates an explicit opt-in policy to robocall and telemarketing activities.
Legislation can only go so far however. While legal or borderline-legal operators may take note of such measures, the greatest threat from scam and spam calls often comes from illegal operators seeking to defraud customers.
As has ever been the case in the fraud landscape, these bad actors continue to evolve their approaches, meaning technological measures to tackle fraud must be equally flexible and adaptive. That’s why technologies such as Neural Technologies’ own SCAMBlock solution are designed to offer an adaptive response to a changing landscape, supporting efforts by regulators to eliminate this persistent threat.
Growing fraud response in line with rising fraud
In January 2022, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NSCC) issued guidance on how businesses to ‘scam-proof’ their communications to better protect customers and stop scam calls. This demonstrates the serious concern by regulators as to the growing threat of spam risk phone calls.
The NSCC’s guidance covers a range of elements required for secure customer communications, including issuing consistent and trustworthy SMS and telephone messages, measures to make it harder for criminals to exploit telecommunication channels, and providing a route for customers to independently verify communications, amongst other measures.
It’s clear that blocking scam calls is a major priority for regulatory bodies and experts. We know from our own experience in the industry why this is so important, not only due to the significant growth in scam call activity, but also the very real personal toll it can take on victims of fraud.
In October 2021, UK regulator OFCOM took the unprecedented step of pushing telecommunications providers to block any online calls from abroad which spoofed domestic UK numbers. This change was a response to a significant rise of scam calls in the previous months, with 45 million customers targeted with scam calls and texts.
Such measures represent important interventions, but they are not alone enough to stop this tidal wave of fraud. Bad actors continue to leverage sophisticated technology and techniques to bypass such measures and target vulnerable customers.
For this reason, it is vital that scam call solutions are able to adapt to the unique conditions of a market. A solution that can protect a population of ~5 million mobile phone users in Singapore, must be able to reach sufficient scale to address the needs of India’s 820 million smartphones.
Scalable solutions for a high-risk landscape
SCAMBlock from Neural Technologies is a scalable, adaptive solution which builds on our commitment to deliver technology which can be customized to meet the needs of the market, and the customer.
It allows CSPs to monitor every call made on a network, regardless of size. It provides a solution to analyze, and capture suspected scam calls, and the ability to block scam calls while continuously adapting to changing scam call techniques.
SCAMBlock ensures real-time decision making for this fast-moving landscape, enabling CSPs to act rapidly to tackle scam calls. The extensive analytical framework is built on a multi-layered analytical model backed by active blocking technology, providing automated response to high-risk events that cut off scam calls before they impact customers.
This solution is designed to be flexible, and scalable, providing a future-proof scam block solution that can adapt and expand to a dynamic fraud landscape. That provides CSPs with the confidence that they’re adopting a solution to stop spam calls today, that can evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow.
Regulators are increasingly looking at ways to eliminate the risk of scam calls. That means more rigid legislation is likely in future. With SCAMBlock solution, CSPs can go beyond simple compliance, to a more advanced solution that comprehensively reduces risks for both customers and their own operations.
Contact Neural Technologies to find out more about our SCAMBlock solution
