What has happened to fraud in the telecom industry? Is it still a problem? Should you as a business owner be concerned? Despite the huge advancements in security technology and greater telecommunication security and awareness for customers, phone fraud continues to pose a significant concern for every business. Just the notion of thousands in loss to businesses as a result of fraud on the phone is a daunting thought. Fraudulent phone calls can cause financial loss to your company. That is scary. Even after the introduction of VOIP technology thieves continue to find ways to penetrate complex systems. Companies such as yours and mine could still be affected.
Three main types of phone fraud should concern most people. The article below will cover the three types of phone fraud. Nuisance fraud (cramming, slamming), fraud in the telephone system owned by the company (PBX key system, PBX) and voice mail fraud and, the latest issue, fraud in VoIP phones.
Nuisance Fraud: Many of us, as professionals, will at one time or another come across nuisance fraud, otherwise called cramming and slamming. The majority of the time, nuisance fraud will not make or break a business when it occurs but it could drain revenue if not properly inspected on the phone bill.
Cramming is when a third-party provider charges for services or charges which the customer hasn't been authorized to pay for. They cannot be requested or requested by your business. These charges can include products and services, such as fake voice mail service charges operators assisted calls call card services, monthly service charges as well as credit check services. Also, fake yellow pages and white pages advertisements can show up on your business phone invoices or be billed to you directly.
Cramming refers to the practice of adding charges to a subscriber's bill for services which were not ordered or desired by the customer or for fees for services or calls that weren't disclosed to the customer. These charges are typically imposed by dishonest third party providers of data or communications services that phone companies are required to permit to be added to the bill.
Have you ever looked over your phone bill and see unusual charges from "other service providers" which you're not familiar with? If so, chances are very good that you've been charged a lot. For large businesses these charges are hidden deeply in the bills and are hard to see and may go on for many years, month after month, without getting recognized.
How can you get refunds and combat cramming? First, contact your local phone company and request a reversal of the charges. In most cases they will. To file a formal complaint against them, you can contact the FCC, the FTC or your state attorney general. The first step is to inform the crammer that you'd like to give them the opportunity to repay your money.
Slamming can occur in the event of an unauthorised switch or change in a carrier that offers local, local toll or long distance services. The problem is that dishonest phone companies can easily to alter or "pic" your long distance service onto their plans, typically at a significantly higher rate than your preferred or selected carrier had provided. After you have discovered the fraud, there's the issue of changing all your lines back to the provider you should have and getting the fraud service to give you a refund. How can you stop this? Contact your service provider to set up the "pic freeze” for your telephone lines. If you want access to all your long-distance, local and cellular phone accounts, ask the carrier for an official password. You can restrict access to the accounts to two people.
Frauds in the phone system as well as voice mail types of frauds continue to be an issue for many businesses. They'll continue to be a problem as long as there's PBX and Key-type telephone systems. Long distance calls can be costly and hackers are able to gain access. It's easier to prevent this kind of fraud rather than repairing it after it has occurred. Let's face the truth hackers, like others, are lazy. They'll leave your business and pursue something else if you have adequate security measures. Make sure that the master default passwords provided by your phone manufacturer for your phone are changed at your address. Hackers have access to these passwords and are able to steal your information easily when they have access. Many of these master passwords used for phones (i.e. The majority of the master passwords (i.e. Avaya Siemens, Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel) can be found online. Changes to passwords can be done by placing a call to the company that manages your telephone systems.
Additionally, ensure that your remote access to your phone systems are secured. Remote access to your system can be secured by using encryption technology. Also, make sure that employees don't use simple passwords such as "1111" for accessing their voicemails. They can easily be hacked. Set your voicemail system to automatically prompt and ensure that employees change their passwords every 90 days at minimum. When employees leave the company, make sure that you delete their voicemail accounts in the shortest time possible. Why? play slot take control of the voicemail box and records the phrase "yes." The hacker then contacts an outside operator and places a third party. The operator then asks if you're willing to pay for third-party calls for Mr. Jones' calls. The voice mail box replies, "yes", as programmed.
Another significant threat facing companies in the present is the issue of weak relationships in their employees, specifically receptionists at companies. This is often called "social engineering fraud." Your receptionist and employees are on guard for any phone call that an individual may identify himself/herself as someone who is testing the lines for the phone company. The caller could state, "I'm with the phone company and am conducting an experiment on your phone systems. please transfer me to a specific extension." To transfer a caller to the correct number, first dial 9 to access an outside line. "Dialing the number" will access the operator who can make a call from anywhere in the world. The calls are then charged back to the company. Hackers have also been used to commit other crimes such as identifying board members for large companies and then impersonating the person in a phone call to the company. Because board members rarely interact with receptionists as often as employees, it is possible that the receptionist will not be able to recognize their voice. However, due to the prestige of a board member's power or reputation in the organization, receptionists are aware of their authority, and the caller is able to get unlimited transferring ability to commit his crimes. The crime usually is not identified until after the receipt of the bill. Inform the employees and receptionists of this ploy. Numerous businesses rake in thousands of dollars through overseas calls as a result of this fraud.
If your company has a toll-free number for inbound calls beware! Hackers may dial the toll-free number and use codes and features to call from overseas, and even to raise charges on paid calling services.
You must also limit call forwarding and conference features on your company's phone system. This will stop hackers from transferring your calls to you. Arrange to meet with the vendor of your phone system to conduct a vulnerability assessment make sure your telephone system is secure. Many of the major telephone equipment manufacturers, including Siemens, Nortel, Nortel and Mitel, have security bulletins that will help to keep your security system secure.
Fraud through VOIP the third and last telecom voice fraud issue to be discussed is the most current threat to companies and that's fraud through VOIP. The fraud involving Voice over IP is in its early stages but is becoming more widespread. As mentioned in the earlier section about phone system fraud, one of the most effective methods to stop this kind of fraud is to change the passwords for your system in your VOIP phone system.
There is a growing need for more attention paid to recent attacks on VOIP systems but actual cases of fraud documented are only beginning to be an issue. Two individuals were detained in 2007 for routing calls through an unprotected network port at different companies to transfer them to providers. Over the course of three weeks the two men routed nearly 1 million phone calls to a VoIP provider. Federal investigators believe that the two perpetrators earned up to $1 million through the scam. However, actual instances of VOIP fraud using these systems are still somewhat uncommon, but there is plenty of potential harm since weaknesses and flaws in security become frequent and easily exploited by hackers who are skilled and resourceful.
VoIP hackers can hack passwords on corporate systems to gain access to voice systems. They can also get millions of minutes of long-distance service. How? What is the procedure? They design and apply customized software code to decipher access codes and gain access to data ports , computers and data gateways. Hackers are able to make use of default or poorly selected passwords.
To stop these attacks against your business and stay up-to-date with the latest security technology and VOIP fraud prevention guidelines, consult with the VOIP equipment suppliers and ask them questions specific to how you can best safeguard your systems. It is possible to engage a professional to conduct a security audit of your VOIP system, particularly if you own an extensive one. browse this site are required for IP business users as well as IT managers. They also need to train and monitor employees in order to ensure effective security of the company's data.
An extensive telecommunications audit is the most effective way to determine if there is any fraud on the telecoms in an organization.