# Restrict International Calls to Specific Countries or Regions

When an outbound route permits international dialing, any user with permission on that route can place calls to every country and region in the world. To close off that exposure and protect against toll fraud (unauthorized parties placing expensive calls, often to premium or overseas numbers, at your account's expense), you can lock international dialing down to a specific set of countries and regions you approve in advance.

## Example scenario

A manufacturer runs a factory in Mexico and sells to customers in Argentina (country code 54). Employees have a legitimate need to call Argentina, but no other international destination. The goal is to allow international calls to Argentina and block them everywhere else.

Achieving this takes two stages:

1. Approve Argentina as the only allowed international destination.
2. Grant the relevant employees permission to place international calls.

## Step 1: Allow international calls to Argentina only

1. Sign in to the management portal and go to **Security > Security Settings > Allowed Country Codes**.
2. Turn on dialing protection and define how international calls are recognized:

   ![Allowed Country Codes page with dialing protection enabled and the international dialing code set](/images/pbx/enable-international-dialing.png)

   a. Enable **Enable Allowed Country/Region Code Dialing Protection**.
   b. In the **International Dialing Code** field, enter the prefix your country uses to place an international call. For this scenario, enter `00`. From now on, any number a user dials that begins with `00` is treated by the outbound route as an international call.

      :::note
      At least one outbound route must match the international dialing code, otherwise there is no route to carry international calls out.
      :::

   c. Click the save icon ![Save](/images/pbx/save%20(2).png) and then **Apply**.
3. Choose which countries and regions employees are allowed to call:

   a. Type a country or region into the search box. For this scenario, search for `Argentina`.

      ![Country list filtered to Argentina, ready to be allowed](/images/pbx/allow-argentina-call.png)

   b. In the **Operations** column, switch the country's status to allowed ![Allow](/images/pbx/enable-country.png).

      :::note
      Certain countries and regions share a single country code, for example, Canada and the United States both use code 1. Allowing one destination also allows every other country or region that shares its code.
      :::

   c. Click **Apply**.

## Step 2: Allow employees to make international calls

Once dialing protection is on, international calling is blocked for every user by default. You then re-enable it for the specific employees who need it.

:::caution
International dialing is the main toll-fraud exposure on any phone system. Grant this permission only to employees who genuinely need it. If an authorized extension is compromised (for example through a weak or reused password), an attacker can place a flood of expensive overseas calls on your account before anyone notices.
:::

1. Go to **Extension and Trunk > Extension**.
2. Select the checkboxes of the extensions you want to authorize, then click **Edit**.
3. Open the **Security** tab.
4. In the **Call Restrictions** section, select **Bulk Edit** (this makes the one change apply to every extension you selected at once), then clear the **Disallow International Calls** checkbox.

   ![Extension Security tab with the Disallow International Calls option cleared under Call Restrictions](/images/pbx/ext-disallow-international-call.png)
5. Click **Save**, then **Apply**.

## Result

The authorized employees can now place international calls to Argentina (country code 54) and nowhere else.

To see how this plays out, assume the system has an outbound route configured like this:

![Outbound route configured to carry international calls](/images/pbx/international_call_outbound_route.png)

When an authorized employee dials a number, the outbound route evaluates it against the rule you set:

- Dialing `00541938384` is **valid**: it is an international call to an allowed destination.
- Dialing `00621938384` is **invalid**: it is an international call to a destination that has not been allowed.
- Dialing `541938384` is **not treated as an international call** at all, because it lacks the `00` prefix. The system simply looks for a matching outbound route to carry it.