We have been made aware of scam calls taking place over the past few days, in which scammers claiming to be from Ofcom have obtained personal information from members of the public.
We’re urging people to be aware of these calls, and we want to reassure you that Ofcom will not call you to ask for your personal or financial information.
What happens on these calls
The calls involve scammers phoning victims and telling them that services have been fraudulently taken out in their name. The scammers then ask for personal information – including financial details - and then falsely claim they will transfer the victim to the police.
So far, the scammers have successfully spoofed telephone numbers which make it appear as though the calls are legitimately coming from Ofcom. These include 020 7981 3040, 020 7981 3000 and 0300 123 3333.
However, while these calls might look legitimate, there are no circumstances in which Ofcom will call you out of the blue to ask for your personal or financial details.
What to do if you receive a call like this
If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Ofcom and asking for this kind of information, do not provide any of the details they’re asking for. End the call and report it to Action Fraud.
The same applies for any call out of the blue, in which an organisation asks for your personal or financial information. More information on scam calls and messages is available on our website, and via the Government’s Stop Think Fraud website.
Action we’re taking on this
We have already implemented a number of measures to make it difficult for scammers to use UK telecoms networks to harm consumers. These include:
- requiring operators to block numbers that are never intended to make outbound calls and are recorded in the Do Not Originate (DNO) list;
- requiring operators to identify calls from abroad which spoof a UK fixed Network Number and block them; and
- tightening the requirements on operators to carry out appropriate due diligence when sub-allocating numbers to other UK operators.