The agencies are from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

Oct 21, 2013 13:38 GMT  ·  By

Six international enforcement agencies have teamed up against caller identification spoofing, a phenomenon that’s becoming more and more problematic worldwide.

The organizations are the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Ofcom, the Competition Bureau of Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the US’s Federal Communications Commission and the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

“This practice, which can accentuate the harm caused by silent or nuisance calls, occurs when callers conceal their true identity by using invalid phone numbers to make calls,” the organizations noted in a joint statement.

“This causes harm to consumers by facilitating unwanted, misleading and fraudulent telemarketing activities which causes anxiety, annoyance and in some cases distress and financial losses.”

The regulations from Canada, the US and the UK dictate that marketers must identify themselves when calling potential customers. Companies that mask their caller ID with false or misleading information are in violation of these requirements.

Law enforcement agencies often receive complaints about marketing calls made with spoofed caller IDs. However, it’s difficult to track down the responsible entities. That is why the aforementioned regulators have decided to team up in an effort to tackle this problem.

“Coordinating through the international law enforcement network of the London Action Plan and the International Do Not Call Network, a public/private collaborative to address spam and do not call violations, we will work together in search of a solution that will address the concerns of consumers,” the regulators stated.

“If a solution is within our authority, we will act swiftly to put it in place. Where the assistance of the telecommunications industry is needed, we will reach out to the companies and associations in our respective countries.”

Later this month, discussions will be held on finding solutions to this problem. For the time being, information sharing appears to be one of the points on the agenda.