Kommersant: The Prosecutor General’s Office and the FSB will strengthen control over telecom operators

The Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Security Service (FSB) are planning to intensify checks of telecom operators in the fall to check calls from illegally spoofed numbers, as well as non-fulfillment of requirements for passing traffic from abroad, about this reported the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources in law enforcement agencies and the government.

The interlocutor in the government specified that the strengthening of checks is connected with the “investigation of crimes committed with the use of information and telecommunication technologies.” At the same time, the introduction of fines is not yet planned, it is only about increasing attention to this issue, a law enforcement source emphasized. The interlocutor, close to the Prosecutor General’s Office, specified that checks would begin throughout the country.

At the beginning of July last year, amendments to the law “On Communications” came into force, according to which operators must block calls and SMS from abroad from replacement numbers. Operators were required to connect to a separate Roskomnadzor system and transfer information about incoming calls from substitution numbers to it. In case of violation, companies face a fine of 300,000 rubles. up to 1 million rubles

In the first month after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the number of fraudulent calls decreased by 42% from February 24 to March 23, but activity quickly recovered later. In particular, by the end of May, the share of such calls was 12.5% ​​of the total number of all incoming calls. According to the Central Bank of Russia, the amount of stolen funds in the second quarter amounted to 2.8 billion rubles.

The idea to increase the frequency of checks is related to the fact that the substitution of numbers takes place on the networks of small fixed-line operators, a source in one of the operators said. According to him, such companies do not have sufficient technical capabilities to block calls from subprime numbers or transfer them unchanged. The strengthening of control is connected precisely with such operators, the source said.

Director General of the consulting company “Ordercom” Dmitry Galushko said that the activity of supervisory authorities is due to the fact that calls about false terrorist attacks have become more frequent in the country. Informzashchita confirmed that they are seeing an increase in such calls, the content of which, as a rule, is associated with threats of terrorist attacks and calls for illegal actions, the company added.

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