The National Communications Commission (NCC) is amending regulations that would require telecoms carriers to help prevent telephone fraud.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said that many scam calls were made from overseas through the Internet. Most people, however, could not tell the difference because the numbers displayed make them look like local calls. Some fraudsters even confused people by adopting numbers from the local prosecutors’ office, the post office or other government organizations. In the past, telecoms carriers could not block those calls because they lacked the proper software to detect them.
“We decided to make [blocking scam calls] part of the telecom carriers’ social responsibility,” Chen said.
Liang Wen-hsing (梁溫馨), a specialist at the NCC’s operational management department, said that the commission is in the process of amending the Regulations Governing the Fixed Network Business (固定通訊業務管理規則) to require telecoms carriers to install mechanisms to block scam calls.
Using Chunghwa Telecom as an example, Liang said it had purchased a batch of next-generation networks (NGN) that can block questionable calls. The network is able to block about 10,000 scam calls per day.
“Chunghwa has worked with the National Police Agency and obtained the numbers from which scam calls were made. Whenever any of the numbers are used, the NGN will be able to stop them immediately,” Liang said. “And we will now ask it to add a ‘+’ sign in front of the number to show that it is an international call.”
Liang said that another fixed network operator, Sparq (速博), is planning to install similar facilities. Aside from asking telecom carriers to help reduce telephone scams, the commission will prevent people with questionable backgrounds from becoming board directors, supervisors or managers of telecom companies. The commission will also set a minimum capital requirement for those interested in operating telecoms businesses.
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