Working Group Established with NSS Participation to Prevent Unauthorized Calls

The National Security Service of Armenia has approached the Public Services Regulatory Commission regarding the analysis of data from phone calls received from mobile operators during operational and investigative activities. According to ArmLur.am, these data consist of calls made through internet applications, and Armenian mobile operators do not have the capability to identify the actual phone numbers associated with these calls.

These applications allow any sequence of numbers to be presented as the caller's phone number, which can correspond to any active phone number. This information is recorded in the operators' billing systems as the caller's number. Furthermore, during the analysis of the recipient's phone number, the actual number that did not make the call is recorded, and the call does not appear on the recipient's phone.

This situation complicates the operational and analytical work carried out by law enforcement agencies and poses risks for an increase in criminal activities. ArmLur.am has learned that a working group has been formed involving the Public Services Regulatory Commission, the National Security Service of Armenia, and mobile operators. Within this framework, the technical and organizational issues related to solving the problem of data that do not correspond to actual phone calls during the analysis of mobile calls have been discussed, along with potential solutions.

Moreover, a technical project for a system to prevent unauthorized calls will be submitted for approval to the Public Services Regulatory Commission by March 1, 2022. Following approval, the system for preventing unauthorized calls will be launched within a three-month period.