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- Digital checkpoint: the State Duma wants to oblige operators to enable call filtering for free
Digital checkpoint: the State Duma wants to oblige operators to enable call filtering for free
The State Duma wanted to oblige mobile operators to activate services for filtering and blocking fraudulent calls for free. The corresponding initiative was submitted to the lower house of Parliament. The service is designed to protect citizens from intruders. Today, operators are already implementing similar anti-fraud solutions, experts say. However, they cannot completely protect citizens from fraud. How the mechanism will work is described in the Izvestia article.
A barrier against evil
Operators in Russia may be required to automatically and free of charge enable services for filtering and blocking fraudulent calls. This initiative was launched by the Just Russia — For Truth party. The parliamentarians have already submitted the relevant bill to the State Duma.
The document proposes to amend the law "On Communications", on the basis of which each subscriber will be provided with free access to an automated filtering service for incoming calls and messages to identify and block fraudulent activities.
It is assumed that Roskomnadzor will be responsible for setting technical and organizational requirements for such a service.
The bill was developed in accordance with the instructions of the President aimed at providing comprehensive protection of citizens from remote fraud. The explanatory note to the document notes that the threat of telephone and network fraud continues to grow. The report of the Bank of Russia records that every third respondent has encountered various types of financial fraud. At the same time, 9% of the respondents lost their money.
"Experts from the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Russia and the largest telecom operators estimate the proportion of subscribers who independently activated the fraudulent call filtering function of a number of companies at only 20%, which is clearly insufficient to effectively counter organized criminal groups using mass call centers abroad," the authors of the initiative are convinced.
They attribute the low prevalence of security services to the lack of information among citizens about their existence. In addition, such solutions often need to be activated independently, which is technically difficult for vulnerable groups of the population.
It is expected that the establishment of the obligation of telecom operators to activate the default filtering service will ensure the protection of the vast majority of users without additional burden on them. At the same time, the bill creates regulatory conditions for a single technical standard of service, which will significantly reduce the number of successful fraudulent attacks, increase citizens' awareness of existing deception schemes, reduce the burden on law enforcement agencies and strengthen trust in the national digital environment.
The Izvestia editorial board sent a request to Roskomnadzor and the Fair Russia — For Truth party. No responses had been received at the time of publication.
A familiar measure
If the law is passed, telecom operators will be required to connect suspicious call and message filtering services to subscribers by default and for free, said Yulia Kuznetsova, a member of the registry of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and founder of the financial school Financology.
— The user will not have to search, download or configure protection himself — everything will be activated automatically, and the requirements for the services will be set by Roskomnadzor. This will make protection available, among other things, to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, who are most often victims, the Izvestia interlocutor is convinced.
At the same time, the Antifraud system already exists today, it was developed with the participation of Roskomnadzor in 2022, recalls Nikita Kozinets, associate professor of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, head of the Digital and Consumer Law educational program, With its help, more than 1 billion calls from replacement numbers have been blocked since its launch.
Incoming call filtering services work by adding phone numbers to a special blacklist, explains Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. Based on special algorithms, operators determine by a number of signs whether such a call is fraudulent.
Such systems analyze calls based on several criteria: phone number, subscriber behavior, as well as the frequency and content of calls, Kuznetsova points out.
— The call can either be marked as dangerous or automatically blocked. Many people already use such applications or built—in solutions from operators, but so far it is paid or not by default," she draws attention.
Almost all operators now have similar traffic filtering systems, confirms Denis Kuskov, CEO of the TelecomDaily information and analytical agency. However, the initiative may involve the creation of a unified system that will make Russians safer.
In particular, according to the expert, it would be worthwhile to add a function that allows protecting citizens not only from fraudulent, but also from advertising calls. In this case, subscribers could inform the operator about the fact of their receipt through a call center, personal account or a special statement.
Experts believe that operators are unlikely to incur serious losses when implementing the initiative. According to Murtazin, they are already being spent on "Anti-fraud", and these costs will not increase with the introduction of the new norm.
Call filtering will be carried out on the current infrastructure and will not require traffic transfer, Kozinets agrees. The main part of the costs will be covered by existing facilities.
Nevertheless, providing filters will necessarily require resources, equipment upgrades, and regular database updates, Kuznetsova warns.
— However, the social significance of the initiative is obvious, and the costs will be justified. Potentially, this can also increase customer trust and reduce the burden on call centers of operators and banks, which also suffer from fraud activity, the expert does not exclude.
Questionable protection
Every second Russian receives a suspicious call at least once a week, and a significant part receives it daily, Yulia Kuznetsova cites statistics.
—The activity of scammers is especially high during crises, sanctions changes, news about the digital ruble, and so on, when citizens feel insecure and more easily succumb to tricks," she believes.
Russians face fewer fraudulent calls today than before, but their existence is still a big problem, Eldar Murtazin believes. According to experts, losses from fraudulent activities on operators' networks amount to billions every year.
The introduction of the obligation to provide anti-fraud services for free is a step in the right direction, Yulia Kuznetsova is convinced. Nikita Kozinets agrees that the significant scale of filtering and blocking proposed by the initiative will significantly reduce the number of "cold" and fraudulent calls, providing protection for users at risk.
However, the new measure will not fully protect Russians from intruders, Murtazin warns.
"We see that they are picking up new phone numbers, using various technical tricks in order to get through," he points out.
Fraudulent schemes are becoming more sophisticated today — attackers not only use number substitution, but also imitate government agencies and banks, adds Kuznetsova. Automatic filtering, in her opinion, dramatically reduces the risk of an emotional reaction to a sudden call when a person is caught off guard.
"But protection will be effective only in conjunction with information literacy: people need to understand how scammers operate,— the Izvestia interlocutor notes.
The instructions of the president, given in April 2025, provide for the use of information from telecom operators to build an effective and comprehensive system to protect citizens from telephone fraud between market participants, recalls the expert of the Popular Front. Analytics" and the Moshelovka platform by Alexandra Pozharskaya. At the same time, no norm will work effectively if it does not provide for proportionate responsibility for its non-compliance, she clarifies. In this case, these may be negotiable fines or loss of a license.
— The amount of data available to telecom operators, in most cases, makes it possible to prevent fraud on the part of intruders. However, most telecom operators are not involved in this work, and no one seriously punishes them for this," the Izvestia interlocutor draws attention to the problem.
Often, according to her, the problems are created by the employees of the operators themselves: the mobile market is considered the main source of leaks of personal data and socially sensitive information of citizens.
"Therefore, even providing subscribers with guarantees of free activation of filtering services and blocking fraudulent calls will not protect Russians until telecom operators know that ignoring existing norms and social responsibility can result in serious financial losses," Pozharskaya is sure.
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