The Government of Spain has taken another step in its fight against telephone scams. The Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, Óscar López, has announced a series of measures aimed at protecting users from unwanted commercial calls and fraudulent practices that affect thousands of people each year.
Among the new provisions stands out the ban on commercial calls made from mobile phonesa movement that seeks to limit one of the most used channels for telephone spam. From the implementation of this standard, companies that carry out this type of communications must adjust their methods, prioritizing other more regulated channels.
In addition, López stressed that telecommunications operators will be obliged to Block calls and text messages that, despite using national numbers, originate from abroad. This measure aims to stop a common tactic of scammers, who use technologies to falsify the origin of calls, pretending that they are local to generate trust in the recipients.
The minister highlighted that these initiatives They are part of a broader consumer protection framework which will come into force in the coming months and that seeks to drastically reduce complaints from users who, on a daily basis, receive unsolicited calls for commercial or fraudulent purposes.
400,000 complaints about scams in one year
According to data provided by the Ministry, In the last year, more than 400,000 complaints related to telephone scams and other forms of spam have been registered. These types of practices have intensified with the increase in digitalization and teleworking, leaving millions of citizens exposed to these types of threats.
López emphasized that The Government will continue to work in collaboration with operators and data protection authorities to ensure compliance with new regulations and guarantee that user rights are protected against this type of abuse. These measures are in addition to other previous legislative actions, such as the restriction of commercial calls at certain times and the right of users to unsubscribe from these contact lists quickly and efficiently.
The minister’s announcement comes in a context in which Concern over privacy and misuse of personal data continues to growdriven largely by the abusive practices of certain companies and the risks associated with international scams. In this sense, the authorities have indicated that the regulatory framework will be reviewed and updated periodically to adapt to new methods that criminals may develop.
With these measures, The Government hopes not only to reduce scams, but also to improve user confidence in digital and telephone communication channels. Operators are already preparing to implement the changes, which will require technological and operational adjustments to comply with the new requirements for blocking unwanted calls and messages.
Anti-spam call measures at a glance
- Prohibition of commercial calls from mobile phones: Companies will no longer be able to make business calls using mobile phones.
- Blocking unassigned numbers: Calls from numbers that are not assigned to any client, operator or service will be blocked.
- Blocking calls and SMS of national numbers with international origin– Operators will need to automatically block these types of communications to prevent scams that use spoofing technology.
- Creating a databasewhich will be managed by the National Markets and Competition Commission, with users who use alphanumeric numbers in their messages. Those messages coming from entities not included in this database will be blocked.
- Collaboration with operators and authorities: The Government will work together with telecommunications operators and data protection authorities to guarantee compliance with the new regulations.
