ICASA declares war on spam callers in SA
South Africa’s spam callers are breaking the law, and they’re about to pay BIG!
Have you ever dodged a weird call from a random 082 or 073 number?
Only to find it’s another spam caller trying to sell you funeral cover or car insurance for a car you sold in 2012?
Well, it turns out, a lot of those callers are actually breaking the law.
According to a report by MyBroadband, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is investigating this dodgy trend of call centres operating from fixed offices while using mobile numbers to make calls.
The best part? If they’re caught, they could be slapped with fines ranging from R300,000 to a jaw-dropping R3 million per offence.
Sheesh - that’s a lot of prepaid airtime.
Why are call centres using mobile numbers anyway?
It’s simple: people are more likely to pick up a call from a cellphone number than a landline.
Since spam calls from regular landline numbers are getting ignored like a clingy ex, these call centres have found a sneaky workaround.
The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) says these operators are either spoofing fake mobile numbers (which you can’t call back) or using prepaid SIM cards loaded with unlimited calling bundles.
Eventually when one SIM gets flagged for dodgy behaviour, they just toss it and grab another.
As you can imagine, South Africans are fed up. (Literally…we're so fed up)
So what’s being done about it?
ISPA has been pushing ICASA to crack down on this since 2022, even sending them proof of these shifty practices.
The good news? ICASA confirmed that it’s officially investigating this.
They’re also reminding everyone that the misuse of mobile numbers for fixed services violates South Africa’s Numbering Plan Regulations of 2016 (which is a serious offence).
On top of that, the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC) is also gearing up to launch a national opt-out register for direct marketing calls.
If all goes according to plan, this should roll out between April 2025 and March 2026.
This will give us all a way to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to cold callers legally.
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So, if you’re running a call centre, just stick to geographic landline numbers like a law-abiding business should.
If you’re a consumer, good news. Help is on the way.
Until then, maybe don’t answer that unknown 082 number during dinner (unless they call twice, then it’s probably an emergency).
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