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Spain to launch 400 prefix to help spot spam business calls
The new rule aims to make commercial calls easier to spot and cut the risk of phone scams
From October, all business calls in Spain will have to use the new 400 prefix, under regulations introduced by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration. The move is designed to make commercial calls easier for people to identify and to bring more transparency to telephone communications.Under the new rules, companies will have to make commercial calls from numbers within the 400 block, which will be made up of nine digits. Minister Óscar López said operators must ensure that businesses use only the numbers assigned to that block for commercial calls. He said this will make the calls immediately recognisable and improve the control and management of public numbering resources.
The change is part of the Customer Service Law, or SAC, approved last December, which requires a specific numerical code for commercial calls. Numbers beginning with 400 will only work one way, so they will accept incoming calls but will not allow call-backs. That is intended to reduce the risk of fraud linked to returning calls to unknown numbers.
The minister stressed that the new system will not affect 800 and 900 numbers, which will continue to be used as customer service lines. Those numbers still allow two-way communication, making it easier for people to deal with companies over the phone.
The government has also been stepping up action against unidentified commercial calls and phone scams. López said recent measures have already blocked 192 million fraudulent calls and 17 million fraudulent SMS messages, with help from telecoms companies.
Another major change is due on June 7, when the CNMC will launch an official register of organisations allowed to send bulk SMS messages. It will cover companies, public bodies and other entities authorised to contact users in this way. The aim is to stop identity theft in mass texting, which has affected both consumers and institutions.
López said the new registry will be a major step in tackling fake messages sent in the name of companies, banks, energy firms or government bodies. “Starting in June, SMS messages impersonating companies, banks, energy companies, or government entities, which were all fake, will no longer be sent,” he said.
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