As of 1 November 2024, local telephony and mobile providers, including GO, will implement blocking measures to safeguard subscribers from potential scam calls which appear to have a Maltese number.

Do these blocking measures impact other calls?

These blocking measures might also affect certain calls with Maltese Caller IDs starting with ‘1’, ‘2’, or ‘8’. While calls from mobile numbers (starting with ‘7’ or ‘9’) will remain unaffected, certain scenarios involving call forwarding may be impacted. The type of calls that could be potentially impacted are:

• Calls with Maltese Caller IDs starting with ‘1’, ‘2’, or ‘8’ initiated by a Maltese subscriber towards an outbound roamer (i.e. a subscriber assigned a number starting with ‘7’ or ‘9’ currently roaming outside Malta) that are late forwarded to another Maltese number. Late forwarding occurs when an incoming call is forwarded to another number on specific conditions, such as when the called party is already busy in another call.
• Calls with Maltese Caller IDs starting with ‘1’, ‘2’, or ‘8’ from a Maltese number to a foreign number that are subsequently forwarded to another Maltese number.
• Calls with Maltese Caller IDs starting with ‘1’, ‘2’, or ‘8’ from unauthorised overseas telephony services (e.g. unauthorised internet or cloud-based applications or solutions)

What can I do to mitigate this potential impact?

Given the potential implications, especially for businesses utilising unauthorised overseas telephony services, we would like to inform you that starting 4 June 2024, you can dial (+356) 2400 2400 to verify if your telephony setup is affected. When calling from an MCA authorised service, you should receive confirmation of your provider’s legitimacy. If not, please reach out to your service provider to discuss your setup.

If you consider that the blocking measures may have an impact on your experience with forwarded calls, it is advisable to consider using alternative communications arrangements or channels. For instance, the call blocking measure will not have an impact where the Calling Party Number is from the mobile ranges ‘7’ or ‘9’. Reach out to GO should you need any further assistance.

More information can be found here: https://www.mca.org.mt/sites/default/files/Press%20Release%20-%20Safeguarding%20telephony%20subscribers%20from%20voice-based%20scams.pdf