What has happened to telecom fraud? Is it still a problem? Do you, as a business owner be concerned? Despite huge advances in technology for security and enhanced security measures for telecommunications and awareness for customers fraud on the phone continues to pose a significant concern for all businesses. click here frightening to imagine the possible loss of thousands of dollars for businesses due to phone fraud. Fraudulent phone calls can cause financial damage to your business. This is a scary thought. Even with the introduction of VOIP technology, hackers continue to find out ways to hack even most complicated systems and companies such as mine and ours can be harmed by this.

Three major kinds of phone fraud ought to concern most people. This article will discuss them all. Nuisance fraud (cramming and hitting), fraud in the phone system that is proprietary (PBX, key system), voice mail fraud and, the most recent issue, fraud in VOIP phones.

call your phone : Business professionals are likely to encounter nuisance fraud at some 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 business, it can drain revenues if it’s not addressed on the phone bill.

Cramming is the process whereby a third party charges fees and services which the client didn’t authorize. These charges aren’t ordered or requested by your business. These charges could include services such as bogus voicemail charges, operator-assisted call as well as calling program programs, monthly fees and credit check services and monthly service fees. You may also be charged directly for bogus yellow or white pages for advertising.

Cramming is the addition of charges to a subscriber’s phone bill for services which weren’t requested or ordered by the consumer or for the cost of services or calls that were not properly disclosed to the customer. These charges are typically imposed by dishonest third-party suppliers of communications and data services that phone companies are required, under law, to permit the third-party to place on the bill.

Have you ever looked over the bill for your local phone and noticed strange costs from “other service providers that you do not recognize?” If yes, the you’re likely to find that you’ve been crammed. Big companies could have hidden charges on their bills that are difficult to spot. They may continue to run for years , without anyone conscious.

How can you get refunds and combat cramming? Start by calling your local phone service provider and ask them to reverse the charges to the offending party. Most cases can be reversed. If they don’t cooperate with you, then contact the FCC as well as your state’s attorney general, and the FTC to make a complaint. But first, let the crammer know that you’d like to give them the opportunity to refund your money.

The term “slamming” refers to when a company provides long distance, local or local toll service , and an unauthorised change or switch. The problem is that dishonest telephone companies are able to change or “pic” your long distance service to their plans, typically at a significantly higher rate than what your chosen service provider has offered. You still have to switch all of your lines to the correct long distance provider , and then get a refund. How do you stop it? Ask your carrier to place a “pic freeze” on your phone lines. Make sure you have an official password for access on your all of your local, cellular and long distance accounts. You should also limit access to these accounts to two people in your company.

The phone system is prone to fraud and voice mail: These kinds of frauds remain common for many businesses. They will persist so long as there is PBX and Key-type telephone systems. Long distance calls can be expensive and hackers have easy access. It’s much easier to stop this kind of fraud than fixing it after it’s happened. mobile phone have to admit it hackers, as with the rest of criminals are inefficient. They’ll abandon your company and pursue another one if you don’t have the proper safeguards. First, make sure that your phone system manufacturer provided master default passwords for your voicemail and phone systems are updated at your place of residence. Hackers have access to these passwords and can steal your information easily when they have access. A lot of these master passwords for phone systems (i.e. many of these master passwords (i.e. Avaya Siemens, Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel) can be found on the internet. Change your password by calling the organization that manages your telephone system.

Also, you should ensure that remote access to your phone systems is secured. Access to your phone system remotely may be secured using security encryption technology. Then, ensure that your employees do not use passwords, such as “1111” to access their voicemail boxes. These passwords are easily stolen. Make sure you set your voice mail system to auto remind employees update their passwords every 90 days, at a minimum. When employees leave your company, make sure that you delete the voicemails they have not used as quickly as possible. Why? Hackers take 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 deceased employee’s mailbox. The operator then asks if you’re willing to pay for third-party calls to cover Mr. Jones’ calls. The voice mail box replies, “yes”, as it was programmed.

blog from weak connections in their employees, particularly receptionists at companies. This is often called “social engineering fraud”. Your employees and receptionists are on guard for any phone call that the caller could identify themselves as someone trying to test the lines for the phone company. find here is possible to hear them saying “I’m working for your company and I’m conducting tests on your telephone systems. Please transfer me to a certain extension.” Transferring a caller’s number to specific numbers first connects to an outside telephone line “dialing 9” and “dialing the 0” opens the line to an outside operator who can facilitate calls to any location in the world for the crooks. The calls are then back charged to your company. area code have also been known to use other ploys for example, such as finding out who are the board members for large companies and then impersonating that individual in a phone call to the company. The receptionist might not be able to identify their voice since typically, board members do not interact with receptionists as much as employees do. The power of a company board member implies receptionists have the ability to transfer unlimitable amounts to callers. The crime is usually not discovered until after the arrival of the bill. Be sure to inform the employee and receptionist of this scheme. Numerous businesses rake in thousands of dollars from overseas calls because of this fraud.

Keep an eye out for a number toll-free that your business could make calls to inbound numbers. Hackers may dial the toll-free number and use codes and features for calls overseas and to ring up fees for paid calling services.

Another thing to consider is limit some conference and call forwarding features on your business phone system that could assist hackers to forward calls on your dime. Arrange to meet with your vendor of your phone system to perform a vulnerability analysis ensure that your telephone system is safe. A lot of the top telephone equipment manufacturers, including Siemens, Nortel, Nortel and Mitel have security bulletins to help to keep your security system secure.

VOIP fraud the third and final telecom voice fraud concern to be discussed is the most recent threat to businesses and that’s VOIP fraud. Voice over IP fraud is still in its infancy but becoming more prevalent. In the section about phone system fraud, changing the passwords of your system in your VOIP phone system is among the most effective ways to avoid this type of fraud.

Recent attacks against VOIP systems are beginning to get greater attention, but actual fraud cases are just beginning to be an issue. In 2007, two men were arrested because they routed calls using unprotected ports on networks in other companies to redirect calls onto providers. Two men sent half a billion calls to VoIP providers over three weeks. Federal investigators believe the two perpetrators earned up to $1 million through the scam. However, actual instances of fraud involving VOIPs on these systems are still somewhat uncommon, but there is a lot of potential harm as vulnerabilities and holes in security are becoming more common and are more easily exploitable by resourceful hackers.

VOIP hackers are able to use passwords from company systems in order to access VoIP systems. They are also able to steal millions of minutes of long distance service. How? Hackers research the security bulletins issued by VOIP providers and gather public information on company IP addresses that are posted on the internet. This permits them to access client systems. Hackers develop and utilize customized software to decipher access codes, connect to gateways and ports for data as well as access computers. Hackers might be able to quickly make use of default passwords or poorly chosen passwords.

To stop these attacks against your company and keep updated with the latest security technology and VOIP fraud prevention advice for the VOIP equipment suppliers and ask them specific questions about how you can best safeguard your system. If check here own a huge VOIP system, it could be beneficial to have a professional perform a security audit of your system. IP business users and IT managers need to utilize the most recent encryption methods to access their networks as well as train and monitor their employees to ensure the security of company data as well as IP system data.

The best method to know whether a telecom fraud being perpetrated on an enterprise is to perform an extensive telecommunications audit and an exhaustive review of the phone system.