Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Robert Troy. I want to raise the growing problem of scam phone calls and text messages, which have become widespread in the past few weeks, as he will no doubt be aware. Fraudsters who claim to be from State agencies, for example, An Garda Síochána and the Department of Social Protection, are pestering people with calls that seek personal and sensitive details, such as personal public service numbers, PPSNs, and bank details. While most people identify these calls as fraudulent and do not engage with them, the convincing nature of some of the newer scams is leading to people lose money. One noticeable development that these criminals have now deployed is the appearance of Irish phone numbers on incoming calls and texts. While most people would be suspicious of an unsolicited call that shows up from a random foreign jurisdiction with which they have no connection, when it appears as a local number it unfortunately gives the call more credibility. This is also happening with landlines that are linked to offices, such as the Office of the Attorney General, or what appears to be a text from a bank. The more sophisticated ones appear in line with legitimate texts from the bank.

I have been in touch with the major mobile phone operators here asking if they can take action to stop the use of their phone numbers and-or network. Unfortunately, some operators have advised that these criminals are not utilising Irish phone numbers or networks but, instead, are using a method called “spoofing”. Even though the call originates from abroad, it appears as an Irish number. This tactic used to require a knowledge of complex telephony, but now open source software that is widely available means that anyone with access to the Internet can spoof calls with minimal cost and even less effort.

The purpose of this criminality is very simple: to exploit people, particularly older people and the vulnerable, and to steal sensitive information and money. There is no data available for the number of people who have been scammed here or, indeed, the average financial loss to people. I wonder if the Minister of State has that information. I fear that this is a hidden problem, as few people want to admit they have been a victim of a scam, and, therefore, we just do not hear about it. However, just because we do not hear about it, it does not mean that it does not happen on a daily basis. Only this week, I heard about one lady in my constituency of Meath East, who lost more than €1,000 to a scam like this. It appears that nothing can be done to recover this money, which is understandably distressing for people. Is that the case? Can anything be done to recover money lost in these scams? What can be done to address this? I have engaged with mobile phone operators. Something needs to be done to address this. Surely, the increase we have seen in recent weeks is not a sign of things to come. Surely, we will not live with this into the future on an increasing level. Are the Government and the Department aware of this? What efforts have they made to ensure that this is stopped in the first instance, and that there are protections in place for victims of these crimes?

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue I am taking this matter on behalf of Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who sends his apologies. It is well-recognised how vital telecommunications are to citizens for so many aspects of their daily lives, including remote working, studying and staying in touch with family members. These services have proved essential since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed nationally. They will continue provide critical support in accelerating digitalisation and part of economic recovery from the pandemic. I am aware of phone customers in Ireland recently experiencing an escalated level of such nuisance scam calls. They can cause considerable distress and anxiety, in addition to causing some customers to incur some additional charges. It is very serious. The Deputy mentioned one of his constituents who lost €1,000. The increased frequency and volume of fraudulent attacks over electronic communication networks includes both "smishing", or SMS phishing and "vishing", or voice or VoIP phishing. Fraudulent texts masquerade as texts from banks and smishing frauds are targeted at deploying malware. The phishing activities recently reported are spoof calls, and-or phishing, particularly where numbers appear to be from the HSE or other public bodies.

Several State bodies and agencies, including An Garda Síochána, Revenue and the Department of Social Protection, and other sectors, such as financial institutions, and, indeed, the mobile network operators, have run public awareness campaigns to warn their customers about smishing, phishing and the need to remain continually on alert in assessing and reviewing suspicious messages. The National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, additionally publishes comprehensive advisories and alerts on scams, attacks, or vulnerabilities, engaging users and the public through its website and social media feeds.

The telecommunications regulator, ComReg, has also advised that it has published a consumer information notice on its website which provides advice urging vigilance at all times on the part of consumers and lists suggestions for the proactive steps to be taken by those receiving scam calls.

However, fraudulent activity, such as smishing and vishing, is generally not a telecoms network security or resilience issue as it is part of the traffic transiting the networks which generally does not cause any network operational issues. Where fraudulent activity becomes an operational issue on the network, such as leading to an overload on the SMS system for example, this impacts on the security and resilience of the telecoms networks and ComReg will have a role to play. The fraudulent traffic from criminals that can be carried out on the networks, such as for smishing and vishing, and the investigation of such criminal activities, remain strictly within the remit of An Garda Síochána. However, as the impact of fraudulent activities is complex in nature, no one agency can address the full scope of the impact and, as such, it requires a multi-agency approach.

There is no single technical or other solution to the problem of scam calls, but through the co-operation of State bodies and a continuing raising of public awareness, and I thank the Deputy for using this opportunity to generate public awareness on this issue, it is hoped fewer people will fall victim to this activity. The more public awareness we and relevant State agencies can generate to ensure people are vigilant to what is going on, the better.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State mentioned the need for awareness raising and bringing people's attention to these issues, and that is important. I accept it is complex and involves a number of agencies. I would add there is a possibility this could continue, increase and get worse. It is a frustration and a nuisance outside of anything else. I would encourage those agencies to work together to try to address it, stop it, reduce it, and minimise it as best they can because it will be a growing problem if it continues and people are getting one or two nuisance phone calls daily out of a handful of phone call per days. The effort of calling back those missed numbers would be frustrating for people and it does not need to be a sign of things to come. I encourage those agencies to come together, include the phone operators and seek to minimise this activity. They should tackle it and reduce it to as close to zero as is possible. Otherwise, it will be increasingly frustrating for people.

I would also ask the Minister of State to come back to me on the assessment of the level of this activity. How often is it happening? Is it on the increase? Does it look like it will be on the increase? What protections are there for people who have been adversely affected by it in terms of losing money?

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot answer the Deputy's question today on the assessment of the level of activity that is ongoing but I will bring that query back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and ask him or his office to revert directly to the Deputy. The advice to the public is people need to be vigilant as to what is going on. If individuals are receiving persistent missed calls from an unknown number, they are advised in the first instance to contact their service provider and follow the code of practice, details of which are available on the various service providers' websites. In addition, some phones have the capability to block a nuisance number. Individuals are advised to check their phone manual to see if this is a feature of their particular handset, and if it is, they should use that feature and block the number.

ComReg's consumer information notice on its website provides advice, urging vigilance at all times on the part of consumers and lists suggestions for the proactive steps to be taken by those receiving scam calls. In particular, it advises people to keep a careful watch and not to answer or call back any number which they do not recognise or where there is a bland or automated message or no voicemail left. It also provides a phone number for consumers to contact and the regulator offers a text callback service and other facilities to assist consumers.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify scam callers in advance, which can resemble normal familiar geographical or international numbers encountered daily. An Garda Síochána's advice has also recommended that people receiving unsolicited and suspicious calls should hang up the call, not engage with the call or return calls, not follow any automated instructions, and not transfer any money or disclose any personal or financial information.