The Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Function approved on 12 February a ministerial order with a package of measures to eradicate telephone and SMS fraud. This scheme will allow users to identify commercial calls and messages so that they do not fall victim to scams.
What is a phishing scam?
Telephone phishing scams usually start with a call or text message in which the sender impersonates a trusted organisation (e.g. a bank or a government agency or company, e.g. DGT) with the clear intention to defraud by tricking the consumer into providing some kind of personal or financial information.
So, in these calls ('.vishing') or messages (''smishing'), citizens are usually asked, among other things, to provide their personal passwords, to access a website or call a telephone number, to make a bank transfer or to contract a service.
What is the impact of this fraud?
This type of fraud causes significant financial and economic damage to all sectors of society, especially consumers, businesses and public bodies. It also diminishes public confidence in electronic communications, harming those companies and organisations that make legitimate use of calls and text messages as a channel of communication with the public.
According to data from the Bank of Spain, the Ministry of Home Affairs or the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE), this kind of fraud has increased in recent years. Some European countries, such as Finland, have implemented measures similar to those included in the new Plan with great effectiveness, reducing phishing scams by almost 90%.
What are the objectives of this plan?
The aim of this package of measures against call and SMS fraud is to increase the protection of consumers and businesses from the growing number of call and SMS fraud scams. This goal complies with Article 3 of the General Telecommunications Act, to defend the interests of users by restoring consumer confidence in electronic communications.
Thus, the plan adopts solutions to prevent communications that manipulate the calling line identifier or the numeric or alphanumeric identifier of SMSs from progressing, and establishes measures to ensure the correct identification of customer services and commercial calls.
What measures does it include?
- Unallocated number blocking: telephone operators will have to block calls and SMS with numbers that have not been allocated to any service, assigned to any operator or allocated to any customer, such as numbers beginning with 3 or 4.
- Blocking of national calls with international origin: the use of counterfeit Spanish numbers in calls and SMS from abroad will be prevented, with the exception of roaming customers.
- Creation of a database for alphanumerics in messages: a register of alphanumeric codes will be created and managed by the National Commission for Markets and Competition to prevent unauthorised actors from impersonating legitimate entities such as banks or administrations.
- Ban on mobile phones for customer services and unsolicited commercial calls: companies will not be allowed to use mobile numbers for telemarketing. They will have to use geographic numbering or 800/900 numbers, which are now enabled for outgoing calls.
When does the plan come into force?
The blocking of numbers not allocated to any service comes into force 20 days after the publication of the order in the BOE, i.e. on 7 March. However, both the blocking of international originating calls and SMS, as well as the ban on unsolicited commercial calls from mobile numbers, will come into force on 15 May.
In addition, the registration of alphanumeric codes and the blocking of SMS of international origin will become operational as of 15 May 2026.
Non official translation
