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Phone Fraud Still a Problem For U.S. Businesses
What has happened to telecom fraud? Does it still exist? Do you as an owner of a company be concerned? Phone fraud is a problem for all businesses, regardless of the advancements in security technology. It's frightening to imagine the possible loss of thousands of dollars to a business as a result of phone fraud. The fact is that phone fraud still can cause your company to go out of business and that is an extremely scary prospect. Even with the advent of VOIP technology, thieves have continued to figure out how to hack even the most complex systems, and businesses such as mine and ours can still suffer as a result.

Three main kinds of phone fraud ought to be of concern to the majority of people. This article will address the three types of phone fraud. Fraud by nuisance (cramming and slamming) as well as the proprietary phone system (PBX and key system) fraud, voice mail fraud and the most recent threat that is VOIP phone system fraud.

Nuisance fraud Business professionals are most likely to come across nuisance fraud at some point or another. Also known as slammingor crumbing, and various other types of fraud. Although it is not likely to cause a major disruption to any business, it can deplete revenues if it's not addressed on the phone bill.

Cramming happens when a third-party provider charges fees and services which the client didn't authorize. website cannot be requested or requested by your business. They can be a result of products and services such as bogus voice mail service fees, operator assisted calls, call card services, monthly service fees and credit check services. Also, bogus white pages and yellow pages advertisements can show up on your business telephone invoices or be billed directly to you.

Cramming is the addition of charges to a subscriber's telephone bill for services that were neither ordered nor desired by the client or for charges for calls or services that were not properly disclosed to the customer. The charges are usually imposed by dishonest third party suppliers of information or communication services that phone companies are required to allow to be added to the bill.


Did you ever look at your bill for your phone and find strange charges from "other providers" which you're not familiar with? If yes, the chances are very good that you've been charged a lot. Large companies may conceal charges in their bills which are difficult to identify. They can continue for years , without anyone aware.

How do you fight fraud and obtain refunds? The first step is to contact your local phone company and ask them for an annulment of your charges. Most likely, they will. To file a formal complaint against them, you can contact the FCC or the FTC or your state attorney general. The first step is to inform the crammer that you would like to offer them the opportunity to repay the funds.

Slamming can occur in the event of an unauthorised switch or change in a carrier that offers local toll, local or long distance services. It is a frustrating experience because fraudulent phone companies can easily to change or "pic" your long distance service onto their plans, typically at a significantly higher rate than the one you had chosen or preferred carrier had provided. You still have to switch all your lines to the correct long distance provider and get a refund. How can you stop this? The carrier should put a "pic freeze" on your phone lines. Make sure click for info have a corporate password for access on your all of your local, cellular, and long distance accounts. click here should also restrict all access to those accounts to two key individuals in your company.

Frauds within the phone system as well as voice mail kinds 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 telephone systems. Long distance calls can cost a lot and hackers can gain access to. It's easier to prevent this kind of fraud than fixing it after it has occurred. We have to admit it hackers, like the rest of criminals, are lazy. They'll just leave your company and go on to do other things if they have the proper safeguards. Make sure that the master default passwords provided by your phone manufacturer for your phone have been changed to your current address. Hackers are able to access these passwords and are able to attack your system with ease if they are able. A lot of these master passwords used for phone systems (i.e. Many of these master passwords (i.e. Avaya Siemens, Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel) can be found online. You can change your password by calling the company that manages your phone system.

Also, you should ensure that remote access to your phone systems is secure. Access to your phone system remotely could be secured by using encryption technology. Also, make sure that employees don't use simple passwords like "1111" for accessing their voicemail accounts. They can easily be stolen. Make sure you set your voice mail system to auto prompt and ensure that employees change their passwords every 90 days, at a minimum. Be sure to delete all voicemails that have not been utilized by employees after they quit the company. Why? The hacker takes control of the voicemail box and then records "yes" He then connects to the call with a third party, and tells an outside agent to dial the number of your departed employee's old mailbox. The operator asks, do you agree to third party charges for Mr. Jones' call and the voice mailbox responds, "yes" as programmed.

A major risk to businesses in the present is the issue of weak connections in the employees, especially receptionists at companies. This is sometimes referred to as "social engineering fraud." Your receptionist and employees must be alert to any calls that indicate someone could be identified as someone trying to test the lines of the company that owns the phone. phone call online might say, "I'm with the phone company and I'm conducting tests on your phone systems, please transfer me to a particular extension." Transferring a caller's number to specific numbers first connects to an outside telephone line "dialing 9" and "dialing the number 0" accesses the outside operator, who will facilitate calls to any location in the world to the criminals. These calls are then billed back to your company. Hackers can also use different techniques, for instance, identifying executives of large companies and impersonating them in calls made to your company. Because board members do not have contact with receptionists as frequently as employees, it's possible that the receptionist will not recognize their voice. The power of a board member is receptionists are able to transfer unlimitable amounts to callers. The criminal usually isn't identified until after the receipt of the bill. This scheme should be made known to both receptionists and employees. This crime was used by many companies to make hundreds of dollars through international calls.

Be on the lookout for a toll-free phone number that your business can make calls to inbound numbers. Hackers are able to call the toll-free number and utilize codes and features to place calls overseas or ring up service charges on paid calling services.

Another thing you should do is to limit certain conference and call forwarding features in your phone system for business which could aid hackers in forwarding calls on your dime. To ensure your phone's security, you should meet with your provider of phone systems to conduct a vulnerability evaluation. Most of the larger phone equipment manufacturers, Siemens, Avaya, Nortel and Mitel have security bulletins as well as security support programs to help keep your systems safe and up to date.

VOIP Fraud Third and last concern about the fraud of voice calls in telecoms. Although fraud using voice over IP is still very new but it is becoming common. In area code on phone system fraud, changing the passwords of your system in your VOIP telephone system is one of the best ways you can stop this kind of fraud.

There is starting to be increasing attention to recent attacks on VOIP systems, however actual instances of fraud documented are just beginning to emerge as a problem. Two people were arrested in 2007 after they routed calls through an ports that were not protected by different companies to transfer them to providers. In the span of three weeks, two routed half 1 million phone calls to a VOIP service. Federal investigators believe that the two perpetrators earned up to $1 million from the fraud. While actual cases of VOIP fraud are rare but it is possible to cause severe harm through exploiting security holes and weaknesses that are becoming more prevalent.

VoIP hackers are able to use system passwords to gain access to corporate VoIP systems and the potential to steal millions of minutes of long distance service. How? Hackers research the security bulletins of VOIP vendors and gather public information on company IP addresses that are publicized on the internet, which permits them to access client systems. Hackers design and implement customized software to decipher access codes, gain access to gateways and ports for data as well as attack computer systems. Hackers may be able to effortlessly utilize default passwords or badly chosen passwords.

They can be thwarted and you need to stay up-to-date with the most recent technology for security and fraud prevention tips. Speak with your VOIP equipment vendors to obtain specific information on how best to protect your system. If mobile phone have a large VOIP system, it may be beneficial to have a professional perform a security audit of your system. IP business customers and IT managers need to use the latest encryption techniques to access their networks and train and monitor their employees on effective safeguarding of company data as well as IP system details.

A thorough audit of telecommunications is the best method to determine whether there is any type of telecom fraud within an company.




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