Leading UK mobile providers—including BT, Vodafone, Three, Virgin, EE, and O2—are set to overhaul their networks by 2026 to prevent overseas call centres from impersonating trusted organisations such as banks. This groundbreaking move aims to tackle the rising threat of phone scams by fully blocking the ability to spoof UK phone numbers.
The initiative, a collaboration between the UK Government and the telecom industry, will introduce advanced call tracing technology designed to “hunt down” scammers by tracing calls back to their origin. When a deceptive call is detected, networks will identify the intermediary providers, working “upstream” until the true source of the scam call is found.
Customers targeted by these scams will benefit from faster, more compassionate support, with response times reduced to two weeks. This expedited assistance is part of a broader effort to protect victims and dismantle scam operations effectively.
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Lord Hanson, Labour Party Minister for Fraud, emphasised the significance of these changes: “Spoofed calls enable scammers to trick the public using fake identities and false promises. Our government is determined to make the UK the toughest place in the world for fraudsters by eliminating call spoofing within the next year.”
The agreement is backed by other key players in UK telecommunications, including Tesco Mobile, TalkTalk, Sky, and the Communications Council UK (CCUK).
Brian Webb, chairman of the Communications Crime Strategy Group, added: “These commitments represent tangible progress—from enhancing trusted data sharing and call security to responsibly using artificial intelligence and providing swift victim support. Together, they reaffirm the telecom industry’s resolve to combat the fraud epidemic facing the UK.”
This coordinated effort marks a significant step towards safer communications, protecting millions of UK consumers from increasingly sophisticated phone scams.