Phone Fraud Still a Problem For US Businesses

What has happened to fraud in the telecom industry? Are there still problems with telecom fraud? Should you as an owner of a company be concerned? Despite the huge advancements in technology for security and increased telecommunication security protection and customer awareness, phone fraud continue s to pose a significant problem for all businesses. The notion of thousands of dollars in losses to a business because of fraud committed by phone calls is terrifying. Phone fraud can still cause financial damage to your business. That is scary. Despite the advancement of VOIP technology, thieves continue to discover how to hack even the most complex systems, and businesses such as mine and ours can be harmed by this.

There are three major types of phone frauds that all of us should be worried about and will be addressed in this article. Nuisance fraud (cramming and slamming), proprietary phone system (PBX and key system) fraud as well as voice mail fraud. the most recent threat called VOIP phone system scam.

Nuisance Fraud: Many of us, as professionals, will at some time or another encounter nuisance fraud, otherwise known as slamming or cramming. Although it is not likely to ruin a business, it can drain profits if it's not addressed on the phone bill.

Cramming occurs when a third party provider charges fees and services which the client didn't authorize. The charges are not authorised or requested by your business. They could be for services such as bogus voicemail charges, operator-assisted call and programs for calling, monthly fees and credit check services and monthly service costs. Also, fake yellow pages and white pages advertising may also appear on your business phone bills or be billed directly to you.

Cramming is the practice of adding costs to a subscriber's bill for services which were not requested nor ordered by the customer or for charges 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 telephone companies must allow to be added to the bill.

Have you ever looked at your phone bill and see unusual charges from "other service providers" which you're not familiar with? You're probably taken advantage of. Large companies may conceal charges in their bills that are difficult to spot. They may continue to run for years , without anyone aware.

What are the best ways to obtain refunds and stop the practice of cramming? First, contact your local phone company and request an annulment of your charges. phone call from computer can be reversed. If they don't cooperate and you are not satisfied, you can call the FCC as well as your state's attorney general and the FTC to lodge a complaint. First, inform the crammer that you want to give them the opportunity to refund your funds.

It can happen when there is an unauthorized switch or change of a service provider that provides local, local toll or long distance service. The experience can be very frustrating since dishonest phone companies may be able to easily alter or "pick" your long-distance services for their plans, at a higher rate than the one you selected. After you have discovered the fraud, there is still the headache of switching all of your lines to the provider you should have and getting the fraudulent company to issue you a credit. How can you avoid this? Request that the carrier place the "pic freeze" on your phone lines. Make sure you have a corporate password for access to all of your local, cellular and long distance phone accounts and restrict all access to those accounts to two important individuals in your business.

Frauds in the phone system as well as voice mail kinds of frauds are still common for many businesses. They will persist so long as there are PBX and Key-type phone systems. Long distance calls can be 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 occurred. Let's face the truth, hackers, just like others are inefficient. They'll abandon your company and move on to another one if you don't have the proper safeguards. Make sure that the default passwords provided by your phone manufacturer for your phone are updated at the address you provide. Hackers have these passwords and are able to hack your system if they are able to gain access. Actually, many of these master passwords (i.e. Many of the master passwords (i.e. call your phone , Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel) are available online. The change of passwords can be accomplished by making an inquiry with the company that maintains services your phone systems.

It is also important to make sure that your telephone systems' remote access is secure. Remote access to your system can be secured with security encryption technology. Next, make sure that your employees do not utilize passwords with easy names like "1111" to access their voice mail accounts. They can easily be hacked. It is also possible to set your voice mail system to ensure that it reminds employees to change their passwords at least once every 90 days. Be sure to erase all voice messages that were not utilized by employees after they quit the company. Why? Hackers take the control of the voice mail box and then records the word "yes." The hacker calls an outside operator and connects a third-party. The operator asks you if you're willing to pay third-party charges for Mr. Jones' calls. The voice mailbox responds, "yes", as programed.

Businesses today are facing a new risk from weak connections among their personnel, especially receptionists at companies. It is often described as "social engineering fraud." Your receptionist and employees are on guard for any phone call that an individual may identify himself/herself as someone trying to test the lines of the company that owns the phone. They might saying "I'm with your company and I'm running tests on your phone systems. Transfer me to a particular extension." Transferring web site to certain numbers is the first step to access an outside line "dialing 9" and "dialing the 0" opens the line to an outside operator who can facilitate the call anywhere in the world for the thieves. The calls are later billed to your company. Hackers are also employed in other ways like finding out who the executives of large companies are and impersonating them in a phone call to the company. Since board members don't have contact with receptionists as frequently as employees, it is possible for receptionists to not recognize their voice. But, because of a board member's prestige, authority or standing 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. Usually, the crime is not found until the bill is paid. This scam should be disclosed to receptionists and employees. This crime was used by a variety of companies to earn thousands of dollars in international calls.

Look out for find here -free phone number that your business could make calls to inbound numbers. Hackers are able to call the toll-free number and make use of codes and features to place calls to other countries or even ring up service charges on paid calling services.

cell phone is also recommended to limit conference and call forwarding features in your company's telephone system. This will prevent hackers from forwarding your calls for your. To ensure your phone's security, meet with the vendor of your phone system to conduct a vulnerability analysis. The majority of major phone equipment manufacturers, including Siemens, Nortel, Nortel Mitel, and Mitel have security bulletins that can help to keep your security system secure.

Fraud through VOIP Third and final concern regarding telecom voice fraud to be addressed is the most current threat to companies and it is fraud via VOIP. Although fraud using voice over IP isn't yet widely known but it is becoming widespread. As mentioned in the earlier section about phone system fraud, one of the most effective ways to avoid this type of fraud is to alter the passwords for your system in your VoIP phone system.

Recent attacks against VOIP systems are starting to attract greater attention, but actual cases of fraud are just beginning to become a problem. Two men were arrested in 2007 after they routed calls through an unprotected network port at other companies to connect them with providers. They transferred half a billion phone calls to a VoIP service over three weeks. Federal investigators believe that the two perpetrators earned up to $1 million through the scam. While blog of VOIP fraud are rare however, it is still possible to cause serious harm by exploiting security holes and weaknesses, which are becoming more prevalent.

VoIP hackers can hack passwords on companies' systems in order to access VoIP systems. They also have the ability to get millions of minutes of long distance service. How? Hackers research the security bulletins of VOIP vendors and obtain public information on the IP addresses of companies that are publicized on the internet, which permits them to access client systems. Hackers design and implement custom software code to decipher access codes, connect to gateways and ports for data, and hack into computers. Hackers can find it easy to make use of default or poorly chosen passwords.

These attacks can be countered and you must stay current with the most current technologies for security and fraud prevention advice. Contact your VOIP equipment providers to ask for specific information on how best to protect your system. If you have a large VOIP system, it may make sense for you to hire a professional to conduct a security audit on your system. IP business customers and IT managers must make use of the most advanced encryption methods to access their networks and also train and supervise their employees in the effective protection of company data as well as IP system data.

The best way to determine whether a telecom fraud being committed on an organization is to do an extensive telecommunications audit and an exhaustive review of the phone system.

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Pub: 01 Sep 2023 06:59 UTC
Views: 243