Telecom frauds are increasing day by day and have reached its highest level since 2000. According to the reports of Federal Trade Commission, telecom fraud accounted for 34 percent in 2012 and increased by 20 percent from 2010. VoIP and IP related phones are being used in large numbers, and we have to be careful to avoid VoIP threats. With the advent of new technologies along with shortage of qualified security professionals, these kinds of frauds are increasing at an immense rate. The new schemes arrived and are difficult to track because of their frequencies, global nature and layers of anonymity. As per the report of Pindrop Security, average potential loss from telecom fraud was $42,546 in the year 2013. Another research from Aite Group is quite distressing and was found that out of the institutions surveyed; only 23 % of them track and quantify losses due to fraud. Solutions are readily available in today’s market which not only detects fraud but also stops them to occur.

Even small attacks can cause damage both economic factor and reputation of the company. Various types of telecom fraud take place and some of these are given below.

Wangiri Fraud: Wangiri is a Japanese word which means ‘one and cut’ and here it refers to one ring and then cut the call. This is a new telecom fraud scheme and depends on the single ring method to make money quickly. What is done here is that the fraudster will set up a computer and dial many phone numbers at random. Each calls are made to ring ones and then hangs up thus leaving the number as a missed call on recipients’ phone. Being curious of the missed call, one calls back in that number which may turn out to be a premium rate number.

Toll Free Fraud: Another common technique which came to light is the ‘toll free fraud’. Any business which uses a toll free number can get affected by this kind of fraud. What a fraudster does is that he will make a profit sharing agreement with CLEC and then use VoIP system to make multiple calls to a toll free number. The CLEC undergoes a dip to SMS 800 database and then transfers the call to other network for termination and earns per minute. The automated IVR prompts are navigated which avoids live operator connection. These calls are left up for long time and are automated so that multiple calls can be made at a time. Large companies are often targeted as even though they are long calls and highly expensive they may not frequently notice or track the huge amount of charge racked on them by the toll free fraud.

Countering the Telecom Fraud

The basic thing one can do to avoid Wangiri fraud, it is not to call back missed numbers until the number is known or call back after judging the number if it is really necessary. There are many websites available where numbers can be tracked. But this does not provide security from telecom fraud. SDReporter from TransNexus is a solution to frauds. SDReporter consistently prevents and monitors telecom frauds. It also integrates with the existing Broad works, Cisco Call Manager, Oracle Acme Packet or Meta switch platform by collecting the detailed call records and analyzing them. During a fraud alert, SDReporter sends an open communication interface provisioning command to the Broadworks switch which either blocks the call or divert the call to customer care. After that an email of SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) alert is sent to Network Operations Centre including the details of fraud trigger. The Network Operations Centre can see the details of alert from SDReporter web interface and can unblock the call with just a click.

Even a single fraud can ruin a business and is necessary to harden the phone systems to fight frauds. SDReporter has an expert technical team who are capable enough to identify, track and stop telecom fraud and in turn provides security to the company.

About The Author

Michelle Patterson is an avid technology blogger and writes extensively about IP/VoIP and Unified Communication. She works with some leading companies to understand the trends of these modern communication technologies.