Gardaí pushing phone providers to end scam calls

Det Chief Supt Cleary said the criminals involved are sending '500,000 texts' at one time from a phone abroad.

Gardaí are holding urgent discussions with the country’s top mobile phone providers in a bid to reduce, “in the short term”, the scourge of scam texts and calls.

The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau has pushed the issue with the major telecoms companies and is engaging with them on providing a technical solution to the problem.

It comes as the GNCCB has seen a 15-fold jump in the last year in reports of phishing and smishing cases, many of them scam calls and texts.

The bureau has received 3,282 such reports between January 1 and August 15 this year, compared to 213 reports in the same period in 2020 — an increase of almost 1,500%.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Cleary, head of the bureau, said: “That’s a huge increase and I’d say even in the last six weeks, when you look at the amount of scam text messages, there has probably been a significant increase since then.” 

He said scam calls and messages were “very challenging” for his bureau. “We have found most would emanate outside the State, so all we can do is provide an evidence pack, forward it on to law enforcement partners in the country, and hope that they follow through, but it is difficult.” 

He said this was “not just a law enforcement issue” and that “the likes of the telecoms companies, messaging platforms, need to be more involved”.

Det Chief Supt Cleary said the criminals involved are sending “500,000 texts” at one time from a phone abroad — in a process known as robodial — completely different from the standard person sending one or a couple of texts one after another.

“Surely they can be recognised and put appropriate firewalls in place to address this issue,” he said. 

“It is getting bigger and most First World countries are victims of this and we need to address it.” 

He said the bureau was currently linking in with law-enforcement colleagues in the UK, who have the same problem and examining what they are doing.

He said gardaí were treating the matter with “urgency” and were working hard with the telecom companies on it.

“We are in the middle of trying to work with the telecos and get on top of this and I would hope the work we are doing will reduce it in the short time.” 

Det Chief Supt Cleary added: “I would be hopeful, in the short term, with the help of the telecos, to get a handle on this, because it is such a big problem.” 

The Irish Examiner sought a response from the three biggest mobile providers: Vodafone, Three Ireland, and eir.

A statement from Three Ireland said: “Three Ireland has robust security measures in place to help prevent scam messages and calls from reaching our customers. Given the increase in reports of such scam calls and texts in recent months we have been engaging with the relevant authorities and bodies to limit as much as possible the impact of these scams.”