Today the first measures of the Government Plan against Telephone Scams come into force

07/03/2025
Estafas telefónicas
  • As of today, telecom operators will be required to block numbers that are not assigned to a customer, an operator, or a service.
  • Also from today the companies will be able to use the numbers 800 and 900 to make commercial calls.
  • Other measures, such as the blocking of calls and SMS with international origin, and the ban on commercial calls from mobile numbers, will enter into force on 15 May.
  • The Plan aims to provide users with tools to protect themselves against potential scams, as well as to easily identify business calls.

Madrid, March 7th, 2025.- Today the first measures of the ministerial order come into force whose objective is to avoid phishing scams through telephone calls and SMS, and to guarantee the identification of customer service numbers and commercial calls.

From now on, telecommunications operators will be obliged to block calls and SMS from numbers that have not been attributed, assigned or allocated to a service, an operator or a customer. For example, that’s the case for numbers starting with 3 or 4.

Also, the numbers 900 and 800 can be used from now on to make commercial calls. Until now, these numbers could receive calls from users, but companies could not issue calls.

These measures are designed to improve the protection of citizens and provide them with tools to identify possible scams. It is also provided with the identification of commercial calls.


Banning commercial calls from mobile numbers and blocking international calls

Two new measures will enter into force on 15 May. From that date it will be forbidden to make commercial calls from a mobile number. They can only be carried out from geographical numbering, from numbers specially assigned for this purpose, or, as mentioned above, from numbers 800 and 900.

Another measure that enters into force on May 15 is the obligation for operators to block calls and SMS of international origin that pretend to have originated in a Spanish number, except those of customers who are in roaming.

Finally, due to its complexity, there is a measure that will enter into force after 15 months from the publication of the ministerial order.

In SMS sending, an alphanumeric tag is sometimes used as an ID instead of a mobile number. This is a widespread practice in the communications of both companies and public administrations.

The measure establishes the creation of a database with these alphanumeric codes, which will be, from that date, registered and verified by the CNMC. In this way, the name of the companies or entities is protected, and any attempt to supplant is located more quickly and effectively.

Link to the press release (PDF · 153.5 KB)