ComReg’s Anti Scam Initiatives

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) is rolling out a suite of anti-scam initiatives to protect voice and text communications in Ireland.

Research commissioned by ComReg outlines that in 2022 alone there were:

• 365,000 cases of fraud as a result of scam calls and texts,
• up to 89 million annoying/irritating communications,
• 31 million distressing communications, and
• over 5,000 businesses that were the victim of fraud after receiving scam calls and texts.

The following initiative may be of particular interest to you because it is designed to protect voice communications between organisations and their customers/clients.

The Do Not Originate (DNO) Registry is a list of inbound-only telephone numbers (DNO numbers) used by organisations to receive calls from customers but that are never used to make outgoing calls. A typical example of a DNO number would be a customer contact phone number on a credit card. But there are many other types of DNO number in use outside the financial sector (e.g., public service numbers, customer care numbers) and it is crucial that these numbers are protected.

Unfortunately, these types of numbers are prone to spoofing by scammers because customers trust them as numbers associated with the organisations they do business or have contact with. Consumers can fall victim to scammers in this way and we need to stop this.

To protect these types of phone numbers, ComReg has introduced a DNO Registry and organisations can register the inbound-only DNO numbers they would like to protect. Telecoms operators will then block any calls that appear to come from numbers that are registered on ComReg’s DNO List (as these numbers are not used for making outbound calls to customers or clients).

It is FREE OF CHARGE for organisations to apply to add a phone number(s) to the DNO List.

To protect your organisation and your customers, ComReg kindly asks that you consider applying to add any inbound-only numbers that you operate to the DNO Registry in Ireland. Its Guidance Note and Application Form outlines how to do this and if you have any questions, please contact dno@comreg.ie

For further information please see:

• www.comreg.ie/dno
• DNO infographic
• Nuisance Communications | Commission for Communications Regulation

Please don't hesitate to contact SFA Public Affairs Lead, Jonathan McDade for queries related to this topic - Tel: 01 605 1688 or Email: jonathan.mcdade@sfa.ie.