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The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today opened two separate investigations into cloud and VoIP phone providers Vonage (Vonage Business Limited) and Voxbone SA – here and here, which centres on a concern that telephone numbers held by the companies are being “misused, including to perpetrate scams“.
Readers might recall that Ofcom launched an enforcement programme in 2024 to ensure that UK telephone and text companies were using phone numbers efficiently and effectively. This formed a complementary part of their effort to strengthen existing rules against the use of “fake phone numbers” and “spoofed calls“.
Ofcom typically allocates telephone numbers, usually in large blocks, to telecoms firms, which can then transfer those numbers to individuals or other businesses as their customers. But providers that take on such numbers are held to various rules, which are designed to help prevent those numbers being abused by end-customers. “Misuse of numbers could, for example, include using them to facilitate scam calls and texts“, said Ofcom.