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Phone Fraud Still a Problem For U.S. Businesses
Whatever happened to telecom fraud? Is it still a problem? Do you as an owner of a company be concerned? Despite the huge advancements in security technology , as well as enhanced security measures for telecommunications and awareness for customers, phone fraud continues to pose a significant problem for all businesses. The notion of thousands of dollars in the loss of a company because of fraud on the phone is a daunting thought. However, phone fraud still can cause your company to go out of business and that is an extremely scary prospect. Despite the advancement of VOIP technology, hackers continue to discover ways to hack even most complex systems. Companies such as mine and ours can be harmed by this.

Three main types of phone fraud should worry the majority of people. This article will cover the three types of phone fraud. Fraud by nuisance (cramming and slamming), the proprietary phone system (PBX and key system) fraud voice mail fraud, and the latest threat called VOIP phone system scam.

Nuisance fraud business professionals are more likely to be a victim of nuisance fraud at one point or another. Also known as slamming, crumbing, and various other types of fraud. Although nuisance fraud isn't likely to make or break any company, it could drain revenue if it is not included 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. These charges cannot be ordered or requested by your business. They can be a result of products and services like bogus voice mail service fees operator assisted calls, calling card programs, monthly service fees and credit check services. Also, fake white pages and yellow pages advertising may also show up on your business telephone bills or be charged directly to you.

Cramming is the addition of charges to a subscriber's phone bill for services that weren't requested or ordered by the customer, or for fees for calls or services that weren't properly communicated to the customer. These charges are often made by untruthful third-party suppliers of information or communication services that phone companies are required to allow to be billed on the bill.

Have you ever looked at your phone bill and see unusual charges from "other providers" that you don't recognize? Chances are you have been scammed. phone call from computer may have hidden charges on their bills that are hard to see. They can continue for years without anyone being conscious.


What can you do to get refunds and combat cramming? Start by contacting your local phone firm and request a reversal of the charges. Most cases will be retracted. If they do not cooperate with you, then make contact with the FCC, your better state attorney general and the FTC to lodge an FTC complaint. First, let area code understand that you'd like to give them the opportunity to refund the funds.

Slamming occurs when a provider provides long distance, local or local toll service , and an unintentional change or switch. The experience can be very frustrating since dishonest phone companies may easily change or "pick" your long distance service to their plans at a more expensive rate than the one you chose. If you do discover the fraud, there's still the headache of switching all of your lines to the long distance provider you are supposed to have, and obtaining the fraud service to give you a reimbursement. How do you stop this? Ask your carrier to place the "pic freeze" for your telephone lines. Make sure you have the use of a corporate password to gain access on your all of your local, cellular, and long distance accounts. You should also limit access to these accounts to two key people in your business.

The phone system is prone to fraud and voice mail: These types of frauds continue to be common for many businesses. They'll continue to be a problem as long as there is PBX and Key-type phone systems. Long distance calls can be costly and hackers are able to gain access. Proactive prevention of this type of fraud is much simpler than correcting it once it's been discovered. Let's admit it, as with most criminals hackers are lazy, and they'll leave your company alone and go someplace else when your system is secure and has adequate security measures in place. The first step is to ensure that the default passwords that are provided by your phone's manufacturer are changed at your address. Hackers have access to these passwords and could steal your information easily if they are able. A lot of these master passwords used for phones (i.e. : Avaya, Siemens, Nortel, Mitel, Cisco) are available on the internet, available to anyone. Changes to passwords can be accomplished by making an email to the company responsible for maintaining services to your phone systems.

Additionally, ensure that the remote access to your phone systems are secured. Access to your phone system remotely could be secured by using encryption technology. Next, ensure that call phone don't use simple passwords such as "1111" to access their voicemail boxes. They can easily be hacked. It is also possible to set your voicemail system so that it will prompt employees to change their passwords at least every 90 days. Be sure to erase all voice messages that were not used by employees when they leave the company. Why? reverse phone of the voicemail system and then records "yes" He then connects to the call with a third party, and tells the outside operator to dial the number of your deceased employee's mailbox. The operator says, do you accept third party charges for Mr. Jones' call and the voice mail box responds, "yes" as programmed.

A major risk to businesses in the present is the issue of weak connections in the personnel, particularly the company receptionist. It is often described as "social engineering fraud." Your receptionist and employees should be alert for a call that is received whereby someone could identify themselves as a representative of the phone company who is conducting tests on lines. It is possible to hear them say "I'm with your company and I'm running tests on your telephone systems. Please transfer me to a specific extension." Transferring a caller's number to specific digits first accesses an outside telephone line "dialing 9" and "dialing the number 0" connects to the outside operator who can facilitate calls to any location in the world to the criminals. Calls are then charged to your company. Hackers have also been employed in other ways for example, such as finding out who are the directors of large corporations are and impersonating them in a phone call to the company. Because board members rarely communicate with receptionists as frequently as employees, it is possible for receptionists to not be able to recognize their voice. However, because of cell phone , power or reputation in the company, the receptionists are well aware of their power, which is why the person calling them can have unlimited transfer ability to commit crimes. The majority of the time the perpetrator isn't discovered until the bill arrives. Inform the employees and receptionists of this scam. This scam was employed by numerous companies to generate millions of dollars from international calls.

Keep an eye out for a toll-free phone number that your business can use for inbound calls. Hackers could dial the number toll free and make use of codes and features to make calls to other countries or even ring up service charges on paid-calling services.

Another thing to do is limit some conference and call forwarding features in your phone system for business which could aid hackers in forwarding calls on your dime. Arrange to meet with the vendor of your phone system to conduct a vulnerability analysis ensure that your telephone system is secured. Many of the major telephone equipment manufacturers, including Siemens, Nortel, Nortel and Mitel are armed with security bulletins that can help to keep your security system secure.

Voice over IP Fraud Third and final issue with the fraud of voice calls in telecoms. While fraud involving voice over IP is still very new, it is becoming more common. In the section on phone system fraud, changing the system passwords within your VOIP telephone system is one of the most effective ways to avoid this type of fraud.

Recent hacks on VOIP systems are starting to draw more attention, however the actual instances of fraud are just beginning to be an issue. In 2007, two people were detained for routing calls via unprotected network ports from other companies in order to divert calls onto providers. They sent half a billion calls to a VoIP service over three weeks. Federal investigators believe that the two were able to make as much as $1m through the scam. But, actual instances of VOIP fraud on the systems are unusual, yet there is plenty of potential harm as vulnerabilities and holes in security are becoming more frequent and easily exploited by hackers who are skilled and resourceful.

VoIP hackers are able hack passwords on company systems in order to access voice systems. They are also able to get millions of minutes of long-distance service. How? Hackers research VOIP vendor security bulletins and gather public information on company IP addresses that are publicized on the internet. This permits them to gain access to the client's systems. They devise and use customized software code to decipher access codes and access exposed data ports , computer systems and data gateways. Hackers are able to use default or poorly chosen passwords.

To stop these attacks against your company and keep updated with the most recent security technologies and VOIP fraud prevention tips and recommendations, talk to your VOIP equipment providers and ask them specific questions about how you can best safeguard your systems. If call your phone have a large VOIP system, it might make sense for you to have a professional perform a security audit of your system. The most recent encryption methods are necessary for IP business users as well as IT managers. Additionally, phone reverse lookup must train and monitor employees so that they can ensure efficient security of the company's data.

The most effective way to find out whether a fraud in the telecom industry is being committed against an enterprise is to perform an extensive telecommunications audit and complete phone system review.




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