Call Accepted: operators will be obliged to identify callers from a city number
The authorities are introducing a nationwide automatic identifier for incoming city numbers. The subscriber will see the inscription "bank", "useful services" and so on. This will make it possible to understand whether a company or a fraudster is calling. The Ministry will make these identification rules mandatory for all telecom operators, Izvestia learned. In the department, the editors noted that cellular telecom operators already have such capabilities, which was confirmed in the companies. But this does not solve the problem of fraud - criminals have long used messengers for calls, and many operators have their own identifier.
What is call labeling
The Ministry of Digital has prepared a new draft amendments to the current regulation, including the law "On Communications", their purpose is to protect Russians from fraudsters who actively use phones for this purpose. "Izvestia" familiarized with the documents of the department, which have already sent to other ministries for approval. As a rule, attackers present themselves as bank or law enforcement officers, who inspire confidence in Russians, which allows the offenders to commit a crime.
According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are presented in the documents of the Ministry, in 2023 the number of crimes related and the use of information and communication technologies, increased by almost 30% to 677 thousand cases, for the first nine months of 2024 - by 16%, it is more than 564 thousand cases. In the structure of crimes for 2023, theft accounted for 119.2 thousand incidents (+5% to 2022). When committing crimes, attackers more often used the Network - 78%, in the second position - mobile communication.
Therefore, the regulator proposes to introduce new mandatory rules - we are talking about identification and verification of the identity of users, as well as labeling of calls - "bank", "useful services" and so on.
"Now on the screen of the user's phone will be displayed the name of the organization and the person, which will make it possible to understand whether it is a bank or a fraudster calling," - said in the documents of the Ministry of Digital.
It also mentions that government agencies, banks and telecom operators are planned to be banned from communicating with customers via messengers. As a result, people are expected to be able to recognize fraudsters.
The Ministry is discussing possible measures for labeling calls with agencies and the industry, a comprehensive approach is required to protect citizens from fraudsters, told "Izvestia" in the ministry.
- However, it is still premature to talk about what they will be. The documents are still in the works. The initiative is part of a package of measures to protect against cyberfraudsters, which is being developed by the Ministry," they added. - Some operators already have services that allow you to determine who is making a call. It is important that this function be available to all subscribers on a permanent basis. Such informing will allow subscribers to distinguish useful calls from unwanted ones.
From which phones scammers call
Thenumber of landline phone users is steadily decreasing: over the past 10 years - more than twice, said "Izvestia" head of the "Public Consumer Initiative" Oleg Pavlov. While the intensity of calls via messengers, on the contrary, is constantly growing, among some categories of users their share already exceeds 50%. Hence the popularity of such a communication channel among attackers, the expert emphasized.
- As for the new tricks of fraudsters, countering unfair practices is a constant process that should not stop. It requires continuous monitoring by regulators and development of appropriate measures to counteract new tricks," he said. - That is why it is important that the mechanism of number identification works in messengers as well, as scammers make calls in these applications. And if it is still impossible to ensure such compatibility, messengers should be labeled as unsafe or blocked.
Alexei Koitov, co-chairman of the Consumer Union of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia that from the point of view of countering phone fraud, this approach was relevant in 2020-2021, when most fraud schemes started with a call from the alleged "bank security service". But the scenarios of fraudsters have already changed, now most often they start with a call from a "law enforcement officer". In practice, real employees may call not from work numbers registered to the same Ministry of Internal Affairs, but from personal numbers, i.e. in such a situation such "labeling" will not help, the expert is sure.
- "Stationary" numbers fraudsters usually used as a substitute, mimicking the real numbers of banks, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and so on. And as soon as they introduced a ban on allowing substitute numbers in the operators' networks and sanctions for this, they switched to mobile numbers. And now they use so-called SIM-boxes, boxes with hundreds or thousands of SIMs," he said.
The proposed measure is unlikely to help in the fight against fraudsters, as they called from anonymous numbers, and will continue to call from them: they will not be registered in any registers, says Igor Bederov, Director of the Department of Investigations T.Hunter Igor Bederov.
- Moreover, fraudulent calls are now flowing into messengers - so far, according to the most approximate estimates, they account for 5-7% of the total number of such calls, but their share is growing, and the technology of attackers is becoming more complex," the expert said.
Are telecom operators ready for such an approach?
Operators have the technical capabilities to implement such services - we are talking about a service that allows you to identify the names of the companies making the call, says CEO of TMT Consulting Konstantin Ankilov.
- But this is a paid service for the calling party, so if it becomes mandatory and generally available, the telecom operators will be deprived of this item of income," the expert says. - Moreover, now it is absolutely unclear how it will be possible to mark calls that come to people from abroad," he adds.
Operators' expenses for maintaining the labeling system and updating data in it may amount to hundreds of millions of rubles, warns the leading analyst of Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin.
- Of course, it is possible to introduce a paid option for companies and banks - when calling a subscriber's smartphone, some additional information, such as offers of discounts, will be broadcast. But it is unlikely that such a service will be popular," says the expert. - Moreover, there is no mandatory call labeling anywhere in the world. Optionally, such a service is available to companies in the USA and in a number of EU countries, such as France, but the demand for it is low.
Business has taken a rather calm attitude to the Ministry's initiative. For example, "Bilayn" already has experience of working with such a mechanism, noted "Izvestia" in the press service of "Vimpelcom".
- Our service "Label", launched at the end of 2023, allows legal entities to label calls as if their numbers were saved in the contacts of users. Since launch, we have identified more than 335 million calls. More than 2 thousand companies from various industries, including finance, IT, retail, telecommunications, tourism and logistics, have connected the service," the company explained.
People are tired of unauthorized and excessive advertising, they are interested in reducing spam, so "at different levels we support ways to combat it," Daria Kolesnikova, a Tele2 representative, told Izvestia.
- For example, our customers already have access to labeling spammers and scammers, subscribers can connect this service in the mobile application for free," she added.
The draft law of the Ministry of Digitization is still under development, so the scenarios of its implementation are not final, the expert noted.
"Megafon was one of the first operators to provide its corporate clients with the technical possibility of call labeling, the company's press service told Izvestia. Now subscribers have access to the "Business Card" service, where calls are identified as the company name and other additional information.
- Call marking is an effective tool to combat spam and fraud: the subscriber will clearly understand from whom the call is coming and can be sure that the unmarked call does not come from an employee of the organization," the expert said.
Meanwhile, banks agree with the decision of Mincifra.
- Telephone fraud is the most widespread type, so such a service will be useful both for the population and for companies, - noted in "Alfa Bank".
In order to reduce the risk of exposure to attackers, it is necessary to continue to improve the financial and information literacy of the population, added in "Post Bank". In "VTB Mobile" supported the initiative of the Ministry with an automatic identifier - it is convenient for both business and customers.
- Possible alternatives for solving the issue: to use short numbering or to regulate the need for organizations to call subscribers from 8-800 numbers, - noted there.
The press service of Sberbank said that "the initiative may be useful for additional cybersecurity of Russians".
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