5 years ago... BT Cellnet bars calls to India and Pakistan

04.10.99: BT Cellnet customers have been prevented from making international calls to India and Pakistan throughout the weekend. This comes after the mobile operator uncovered fraudulent activity on its network.

Unusual levels of network traffic were reported last week and the company said its only option was to administer a universal ban. Although it won't confirm the cause of the fraud, BT Cellnet said it is aware of problems with its pre-pay phones. A spokeswoman said: "Phones may be being interfered with technically to allow free calls."

04.10.04: Although in this instance from the archives the bar was only in place until the problem had resolved, more recently we have seen a similar, more long term initiative brought in to cut down on the amount of dialler and premium rate phone fraud.

Simply put this is a scam which makes a consumer unwittingly call a premium rate number via telephone or internet. This could be a pop-up on a website which activates when a user thinks they are closing it or a number which arrives in a seemingly important email or text message purporting to be from a bank or similar trusted authority.

The Irish Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) recently blacklisted a number of countries, mostly located in the South Pacific, which are well known for harbouring the dialler scammers.

ComReg chairman John Doherty said: "ComReg has continually sought for the industry to come forward with robust solutions, which ensure the protection of consumers. Regretfully it has not been possible and therefore ComReg is forced to take some unusual and exceptional measures."