In Russia, it was proposed to introduce criminal liability for the substitution of telephone numbers

The All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) proposed to the Ministry of Digital Affairs to introduce criminal liability for organizing a service for the substitution of telephone numbers, writes “Kommersant” with reference to the letter to the head of the department Maxim Shadayev.

Public figures also want to oblige operators to warn subscribers free of charge about suspicious calls, blocking them without a court decision. The Ministry of Digital Affairs said that it had not yet received an appeal from the ONF, but noted that the authorities had three system concepts for dealing with calls from spoofed numbers. The department did not elaborate on the details.

Telephone scammers steal 3.5-5 billion rubles from Russians every month, Sberbank told the publication. Earlier for the introduction of criminal punishment for the substitution of numbers performed at the Central Bank. For six months, the regulator has identified 6,100 numbers from which scammers called (this is 38% more than a year earlier).

Experts interviewed by Kommersant were skeptical about the ONF initiative. According to the general director of TelecomDaily Denis Kuskov, the substitution of numbers is used not only by fraudsters in prisons, but also by banks themselves, as well as retail, the sphere of customer information services. The problem, he is sure, will not be solved even by a complete ban on such numbers: there are about 11 million “gray” SIM-cards in free circulation.

The introduction of bans in one country may lead to the fact that attackers will use these services abroad, said Andrei Kolmakov, head of Group-IB’s high-tech crime investigation department. In July, a law has already entered into force, which will allow blocking calls and SMS messages from abroad from spoofed numbers.