Notes

Phone Fraud Still a Problem For USA Businesses
What has happened to fraud in the telecom industry? Are there still problems with telecom fraud? Are you as a business proprietor have to be worried? The issue of phone fraud is a major concern for all businesses, despite the numerous advancements in security technology. The mere thought of the possibility of thousands in loss to businesses as a result of fraud committed by phone calls is terrifying. Phone fraud can still cause financial damage to your business. This is a scary thought. Despite the advancement of VOIP technology, the thieves continue to find out how to hack even the most complex systems. Companies such as mine and ours can be harmed by this.

Three types of phone fraud should concern most people. This article will discuss each of them. Nuisance fraud (cramming or hitting), fraud on the telephone system owned by the company (PBX Key System, PBX) and voice mail fraud and, the latest challenge, fraud in VoIP phones.


Nuisance fraud Business professionals are most likely to come across nuisance fraud at some point or in another. Also known as slamming, crumbing, and various other types of fraud. Although nuisance fraud isn't likely to ruin a business, it can drain revenue if it is not mentioned on the bill.

Cramming occurs when a third-party provider charges fees or services that the client hasn't been authorized to pay for. The charges are not authorised nor desired by your company. They could include items and services, such as fake voice mail service fees, operator assisted calls, calling card programs, monthly service charges and credit check services. You may also be charged directly for fake white pages or yellow pages for advertising.

Cramming is the practice of adding charges to a subscriber’s telephone bill for services that weren't requested or ordered by the client or fees for services or calls which were not made clear to the consumer. These charges are often imposed by dishonest third party providers of data or communications services that phone companies are required to permit to be placed on the bill.

Did you ever look at your bill for your phone and find strange charges from "other providers" that you didn't recognize? Chances are you have been scammed. Big companies could have hidden charges in their bills that are difficult to spot. They could continue for years without anyone being conscious.

How do you fight fraud and obtain refunds? The first step is to contact your local phone firm and request a reversal of the charges. In most cases, they will. If they don't cooperate, call the FCC, your better state attorney general, or the FTC to lodge complaints. First, you must let the person who crammed you know that you'd like to give them the chance to refund the money you paid.

Slamming occurs when a provider offers local, long distance or local toll service , and an unintentional change or switch. Slamming can be frustrating as untruthful phone companies can quickly change or "pick" your long distance service to their plans at a more expensive rate than the one you chose. However, you must switch all your lines to the right long distance service provider and receive the refund. How do you stop this? Ask the carrier to put the "pic freeze" on your phone lines. If you want access to all your long-distance, local and mobile phone accounts, ask the carrier for the password for your company. You can restrict access to the accounts to two employees.

Phone system and voice mail fraud: These types of scams remain problematic for many companies and will continue to persist for as long as businesses have PBX and Key-type phone systems in place and long distance calls cost money , and hackers can easily gain access. It's easier to prevent this kind of fraud than to fix it once it's occurred. We have to admit it hackers, as with the rest of criminals are lazy. They'll abandon your company and go on to do other things if they have adequate security measures. Make sure your phone system's manufacturer has provides master passwords for your voicemail and phone systems are changed when you change your place of residence. Hackers have these passwords and are able to attack your system if can get access. A lot of these master passwords used for phones (i.e. Many of the master passwords (i.e. Avaya Siemens, Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel) can be found on the internet. Changes to passwords can be done by placing an inquiry with the company that maintains services your telephone systems.

You should also ensure that your telephone systems' remote access is secured. Remote access to your system can be secured using security encryption technology. Also, ensure that your employees do not make use of passwords that are easy to remember, such as "1111" for accessing their voice mail accounts. They can easily be hacked. You can also set your voice mail system to ensure that it prompts employees to change their passwords every 90 days. Make sure you delete all voicemails which haven't been utilized by employees once they quit the company. Why? The hacker takes control of the voicemail box and starts recording "yes" He then connects to an outside party in charge and instructs the outside operator to call the number of your former employee's old mailbox. The operator asks if you are willing to pay third party charges for Mr. Jones' calls. The voice mail box responds, "yes", as it was programmed.

A major risk to businesses today is the problem of weak links in personnel, particularly the company receptionist. This is sometimes described as "social engineer fraud". Your receptionist and employees should be on guard for calls that is received in which someone could identify themselves as a representative of the company that is conducting tests on lines. You might hear them speak to you "I'm employed by your organization and I'm conducting tests on your telephone systems. Transfer me to a particular extension." To transfer a caller a certain number, you first dial 9 to connect to the outside line. "Dialing the number" will open the line to the operator who can make a call anywhere around the globe. These calls are then billed back to the company. Hackers have also been employed in other ways such as identifying board members for large companies and impersonating them in a phone call to the company. The receptionist might not recognize their voice because typically board members don't communicate with receptionists as much as employees do. The power of a board member means receptionists have the ability to transfer unlimited amounts to the caller. The criminal usually isn't identified until after the receipt of the bill. Be sure to inform the employee and receptionist of this ploy. Numerous companies milked for thousands of dollars from international calls due to this fraud.

Keep an eye out for a number toll-free that your business can use to make inbound calls. Hackers are able to call the number toll free and make use of codes and features to make calls to other countries or even charge service fees on paid-calling services.

You should also restrict the conference feature and call forwarding on your company's phone system. This will prevent hackers from transferring your calls to your. To ensure your phone's security, meet with your vendor of phone systems to perform a vulnerability assessment. Most of the larger manufacturers of telephone equipment, Siemens, Avaya, Nortel and Mitel have security bulletins and security support programs to help keep your systems safe and up to date.

VoIP Fraud The third and final concern regarding telecom voice fraud. Fraud via Voice over IP is in its early stages but is becoming more widespread. As mentioned in the earlier section regarding phone system fraud, one of the most effective ways to prevent this kind of scam is to change the system passwords in your VoIP phone system.

Recent hacks on VOIP systems are starting to get more attention, but the actual instances of fraud are just beginning to be a problem. In 2007, two individuals were detained for routing calls using unprotected ports on networks at other companies to route calls onto providers. In the span of three weeks, two men routed nearly a million phone calls to a VOIP service. Federal investigators believe that they could have earned as much as $1 million from the fraud. While phone call online of VOIP fraud are rare, it is possible to cause severe harm through exploiting security holes and weaknesses, which are becoming more frequent.

VoIP hackers can exploit passwords in company systems to gain access to voice systems. They can also get millions of minutes of long-distance service. How? What is the procedure? Hackers create and use customized software to decipher access codes, connect to data ports and gateways, and access computers. Hackers may be able to quickly use default passwords or poorly selected passwords.

They can be thwarted and you must stay current with the most recent technology for security and fraud prevention advice. Contact your VOIP equipment providers to obtain specific information regarding the best method to secure your system. If you own a huge VOIP system, it may be beneficial to hire a professional to conduct a security audit on your system. IP business users and IT managers must utilize the most recent encryption methods to access their networks and train and monitor their employees on effective safeguarding of company data as well as IP system data.

The most effective way to find out whether a telecom fraud being committed against an organization is to do an extensive audit of telecommunications and a thorough review of the phone system.




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