Notes

Phone Fraud Still a Problem For USA Businesses
What has happened to telecom fraud? Does it still exist? Do you as an owner of a business be worried? Despite the huge advancements in security technology and enhanced security measures for telecommunications and customer awareness, phone fraud continues to be a major problem for all businesses. It's frightening to consider the possibility of loss of thousands of dollars for a business because of phone fraud. The threat of phone fraud is still a source of financial ruin to your business. That is scary. Even with the advent of VOIP technology, the thieves continue to find out how to hack even the most complicated systems and companies like yours and mine can continue to suffer from this.

Three types of phone frauds should concern most individuals. This article will discuss them all. Nuisance fraud (cramming or hitting) as well as fraud on the telephone system owned by the company (PBX, key system), voice mail fraud and, the newest challenge, fraud in VOIP phones.

mobile phone are more likely to encounter nuisance fraud at one point or another. Also known as slammingor crumbing, and various other types of fraud. The majority of the time, nuisance fraud will not cause a business to fail when it occurs however it can eat away at profits if it is not checked in the telephone bill.

Cramming occurs when a third-party provider charges fees or services which the customer hasn't authorized. They cannot be requested or desired by your company. These charges could include services such as bogus voicemail charges, operator-assisted call, calling program programs monthly fees including credit check services and monthly service charges. Additionally, fake yellow pages and white pages advertisements can show up on your business telephone invoices or be billed to you directly.

Cramming is the addition of charges to a subscriber's phone bill for services that were not requested nor ordered by the consumer, or for fees for calls or services that were not properly disclosed to the consumer. These charges are often assessed by dishonest third-party suppliers of communications and data services that telephone companies are required by law, to permit third parties to charge on the bill.

Have you looked at your local telephone bill and found strange costs from "other service providers you aren't familiar with?" If so, it's likely that you've been charged a lot. Big companies could have hidden costs in their invoices that are hard to see. They can continue for a long time without anyone being conscious.

What can you do to stop cramming and get refunds? Start by calling your local telephone provider and ask for them to reverse the charge to the party who was responsible for the cramming. In most cases they will. If they are not cooperating and you are not satisfied, you can contact the FCC as well as your state's attorney general and the FTC to lodge a complaint. However, first let the person who crammed you know that you would like give them an opportunity to return your money.

The term "slamming" refers to when a company provides local, long distance or local toll services and an unauthorised switch or change. The problem is that dishonest phone companies are able easily to change or "pic" your long distance service onto their plans, usually at a much higher rate than your preferred or selected service provider has offered. Even after you discover the scam, there's still the headache of switching all your lines back to the long distance service you should have and getting the fraudulent service to issue you a credit. How can you avoid this? The carrier should put a "pic freeze" on your phone lines. Request a corporate password for access on your all of your local, cellular and long distance telephone accounts. limit access to those accounts to two employees of your company.

Voice mail and phone system fraud: These kinds of scams remain problematic for many companies and will continue to be a problem in the long run, as long as companies have PBX and Key type telephone systems in place. Furthermore, long distance calls are expensive and hackers are able to gain access. It's much easier to stop this type of fraud than to fix it once it's happened. We have to admit it hackers, like other criminals, are lazy. They'll leave your business and go on to do another one if you don't have the proper safeguards. The first step is to ensure that the default passwords provided by your phone's manufacturer are changed at your address. Hackers are able to access these passwords and could hack your system easily when they have access. Actually, many of these phone system master passwords (i.e. : Avaya, Siemens, Nortel, Mitel, Cisco) are online and are accessible to anyone. Changes to passwords can be accomplished by making an inquiry with the company that maintains services your telephone systems.

Also, you should ensure that remote access to your phone systems is secure. This can be accomplished with the help of security encryption technology for remote access to your systems. Next, make sure that your employees don't use easy passwords like "1111" for accessing their voicemail boxes. reverse phone can be easily stolen. You could also set up your voice mail system so that it reminds users to update their passwords at least every 90 days. If employees quit the company, ensure that you erase their unused voicemail boxes as soon as you can. Why? The hacker takes control of the voicemail box and then records the word "yes." He then connects to an outside party in charge and instructs an outside agent to call the number of your former employee's mailbox. The operator asks if you agree to pay third party fees for Mr. Jones' call and the voice mailbox responds, "yes" as programmed.

Today, companies face a different threat from weak links in their staff, specifically receptionists at companies. This is sometimes called "social engineer fraud". Your employees and receptionists are on guard for any call received in which an individual may identify himself/herself as someone testing the lines of the phone company. You might hear them say "I'm employed by your organization and I'm running tests on your phone systems. Transfer me to a certain extension." To forward a caller's number to the correct number, first dial 9 to connect to an outside line. "Dialing the number 0" will open the line to the operator that can make a call anywhere around the globe. reverse lookup are then billed back to the company. Hackers also have different techniques, for instance, identifying the executives of large companies and impersonating them in calls made to your company. The receptionist may not be able to identify their voice because typically board members do not interact with receptionists the same way that employees do. However, due to the board members' prestige, power or reputation in the business, receptionists are aware of their power, which is why the person calling them can gain unlimited transfer power to commit crimes. Usually, the crime is not found until the bill is paid. Warn the receptionist and employees of this scheme. Numerous businesses rake in thousands of dollars in overseas calls as a result of this ploy.

click for info on the lookout for a number toll-free that your business can use for inbound calls. Hackers could call toll-free numbers and make use of features and codes to make calls from overseas, and even to raise costs for paid-calling services.

You must also limit conference and call forwarding features on the phone system of your business. This will prevent hackers from transferring your calls to your. Make an appointment with your phone system vendor to perform a vulnerability assessment ensure that your phone system is secure. A lot of the top telephone equipment makers, such as Siemens, Nortel, Nortel Mitel, and Mitel have security bulletins that will aid in keeping your phone system safe.

VOIP fraud Third and last telecom voice fraud issue to be addressed is the latest threat to companies , and that's VOIP fraud. Although fraud using voice over IP is not yet fully established but it is becoming widespread. In the section about phone system fraud, changing the system passwords within the VOIP phone system is one of the most effective ways to stop this kind of fraud.

Recent attacks against VOIP systems are starting to draw more attention, however actual cases of fraud are just beginning to be a problem. In 2007, two people were detained after they routed calls through unprotected network ports at other companies to route calls to providers. Two men sent half a billion calls to a VoIP service during three weeks. Federal investigators believe that they could have earned as much as $1 million through the scam. Although actual cases of fraud involving VOIPs are uncommon, it is possible to cause severe harm through exploiting security holes and weaknesses that are becoming more frequent.

VOIP hackers are able to hack passwords on company systems to gain access to voice systems. They can also steal millions of minutes of long-distance service. How? How? Hackers develop and utilize customized software to decipher access codes, gain access to gateways and data ports and even access computers. Hackers can find it easy to access default or badly selected passwords.


To stop these attacks against your company , and to stay abreast with the most recent security technologies and VOIP fraud prevention tips, consult with the VOIP equipment suppliers and ask them questions specific to how to best protect your system. It might be beneficial to engage a professional to conduct an audit of security for your VOIP system, especially if it is an extensive one. IP business users and IT administrators must make use of the most advanced encryption methods to access their networks and also train and supervise their employees to ensure the security of company data as well as IP system information.

A thorough audit of telecommunications is the most effective way to determine if there is any fraud on the telecoms in an business.




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