Finally free from the harassing phone calls of telemarketing: the date x for a drastic change compared to the current rules is Tuesday 19 August when the call block Commercial that are forwarded from abroad but with Italian numbers (fake) who deceive consumers who are often led to respond with all the potential consequences of the case.
What changes now
It is clear that 100% this harmful phenomenon cannot be interrupted but compared to the last few months (or years) it will certainly go better: it is really a concrete step to stem the harassing call centers that spread deceptive advertising. All this is possible thanks to the AGCOM which approved a new regulation last May 19 which will enter into force, as mentioned, on August 19th. In practice, the telephone operators of our country who receive calls delivered by foreign operators will have the obligation to block calls with a fixed Italian number and those with Italian mobile number.
What is the CLI Spoofing
In detail, you will go to put a brake on CLI Spoofing (Calling Line Identification Spoofing, a technique that allows the caller to hide the real telephone number thanks to the help of a software capable of changing the ID and making a different number of the real number. The recipient, completely unaware, is therefore led to respond with the deception by the scammers. The new measures “They will be applied in two steps: the first on August 19th, and will only concern the blocking of calls from abroad with a fixed Italian call calling number; the second, on November 19, will concern the blocking of calls with Italian calling calling number. For those who do not adapt, fines up to 1 million euros“, explained the president of Assoutenti, Gabriele Melluso.”It is a first step to combat the hateful phenomenon of aggressive telemarketing, but which will not end unwanted commercial calls pEr propose financial investments through telemarketing but also contracts for energy supplies“.
Codacons’ skepticism
It will therefore be important, however, to wait a few more months to understand if the block has been really effective for users but that of August 19 is an important first step. More skeptical, however, the Codacons that hypothesizes how these new rules “they will not stop the phenomenon of commercial calls“Since it will be”still possible to falsify the numbers by calling from Italy, and the blockage will not extend to commercial calls that use foreign prefixes“. Codacons also adds that”The countermeasures that will be adopted by the illegal call centers must be considered, which use increasingly sophisticated technologies to circumvent blocks and prohibitions and hit users“And remember that”Despite the 32 million users registered today in the public register of oppositions, each Italian receives on average every week from 5 to 8 commercial calls, which lead to about 15 billion the total number of unwanted calls recorded in a year in our country. Contacts that if previously they were aimed at proposing contracts for telephone or light and gas supplies, now they also promote financial investments or in Bitcoin, with the risk of making consumer sums lose large sums“.
What are the costs
They seem unthinkable numbers but aggressive telemarketing produces damage to consumers over two billion euros every year only for light and gas: they are the worrying data of non -profit consumerism. In 2024, almost a quarter of electric energy users, 23.8% of domestic customers, changed supplier at least once during the year, 18.7% in the gas sector, for a total of over 14 million families who have signed new supply contracts. “Numbers in strong growth compared to the past and on which the pressure of telemarketing weighs, which has prompted about 5 million users in the last year to change manager through incorrect and aggressive practices and in the absence of real economic advantages.
A trap that leads the victims to spend on average between +10% and 20% on the bills of light and gas compared to normal market rates, with a total damage estimated at around 2.1 billion euros per year “, The experts explained.