Scam calls are a “major scourge” in telecommunication. Regulators have been more vigilant in addressing illegal call centres and robocalls. On November 1st, regulators from Canada, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, and the United States had an in-person ‘Combating Scam Communications’ meeting hosted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The meeting was a chance for the five countries to share their own current initiatives and collaborative cross-border enforcement challenges. Representatives from each of the countries agreed to “continue their collaboration and share strategic information” by engaging with regulatory agencies in areas that may be the source of scam communications.
The Combating Scam Communications meeting is an extension of the collaboration between regulators through the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network which promotes international spam enforcement cooperation to address online fraud and deception, phishing, and virus spreading.
In Canada, the CRTC has required that all major telecommunications services implement a new called ID authentication technology called ‘STIR/SHAKEN‘ which authenticates the identity of a caller in an attempt to mitigate “spoofed calls” or calls that “pretend to be placed by a legitimate organization”. However, currently STIR/SHAKEN only works with calls places over IP networks and not on older technologies. Canada has also enforces the Canadian Anti-Spam Law against high-volume spam calling campaigns.
Read the full news release from the Government of Canada and more information from IT World Canada.
