The system implemented by AGCOM (Communications Regulatory Authority) is producing concrete effects: every day almost 10 million spam and fraudulent calls are intercepted and rejected which simulate Italian mobile numbers even though they come from abroad. This result is the result of the technical adaptation of Italian telephone operators to the second AGCOM antispoofing filter, which came into force on 19 November, designed to recognize and stop calls that use counterfeit national prefixes. By spoofing we mean the illegal practice with which a person alters the identification of the calling number (the so-called CLI or Calling Line Identification) to pose as a reliable or local contact. The measure has drastically reduced misleading proposals relating to fictitious investments or suspicious offers on electricity and gas, without however interfering with the legitimate calls of Italian users in roaming, i.e. temporarily connected to foreign networks. In the event that you continue to receive unwanted phone calls, you can take advantage of some tools that allow you to further mitigate the problem, which we will tell you about later.
How the filter works: legitimate calls vs. illegitimate calls
The blocking mechanism introduced by AGCOM focuses on calls that pretend to be Italian but are not: this makes it possible to target a significant part of the phenomenon of telephone spam, without however eliminating it completely. If you continue to receive harassing phone calls from foreign numbers, it is very likely that these are generated by operating call centers really abroad and therefore do not fall within the technical perimeter in which the filter operates. To also block the numbers that actually contact you from abroad, if you are not used to regularly receiving international calls, you can evaluate preventive solutions such as blocking foreign numbers through your operator, a request that can usually be activated through your operator’s app or through customer assistance (but which is not offered by all providers), or by intervening directly from the phone with specific numeric strings on the keypad (e.g. with Vodafone Italia you must use the code *331*1234# while with WINDTRE you must use the code *331*2121#). Other providers, such as TIM and Iliad, do not provide codes with which to block calls, so contact customer care to find out what to do and to resolve any doubts.
There are also applications that promise to identify spam, but to work they require access to your address book and calls, with the risk that some data will be used improperly (and, for this reason, we do not recommend using similar applications, no matter how popular they are).
In any case, a distinction must be made between illegal practices and authorized telemarketing. Legitimate Italian call centers can continue to contact you for real offers, unless you have registered in the public register of objections, a tool that revokes consent to telephone marketing except for those granted subsequently or linked to continuous contracts. The registration must be renewed periodically, since new consents can also be issued unconsciously, for example through loyalty programs.
How to block spam calls if the AGCOM filter doesn’t work
However, when you receive calls from non-existent Italian numbers, recognizable by the fact that they cannot be called back, you are faced with spoofing actions which are prohibited by law. In these cases it is possible to proceed with a formal report via the online form available on this page. Here’s how you can use it.
- After accessing the Reporting unwanted phone calls page, click on the Enter with SPID button, to log in with the SPID or Enter with CIE, to log in with the Electronic Identity Card.
- Once logged in, you agree to accept the privacy policy, provide your e-mail address or your PEC address in the Email/PEC and Confirm Email/PEC fields and click Next.
- Completely fill in sections B) Reporter’s telephone number, C) Type of telephone calls received and D) Details of individual telephone calls received, answering the questions asked and clicking on Next to navigate between the various sections and then follow the instructions on the screen to send your report to the Guarantor for the protection of personal data.
Once the form has been sent, the report is taken into account for the appropriate checks.
