You’ve heard about credit card fraud before. You might have been a victim, too. This type of fraud is accountable for the loss of billions of dollars. While the government and other organizations are working on reducing credit card fraud, they now have another challenge in the form of telecom fraud.
It’s said to be more destructive and harmful than credit card fraud. Moreover, some experts even believe that telecom companies allow fraudulent activities to take place because it is profitable for the business.
In this article, we’ll talk about telecom fraud and why it’s such a common occurrence these days:
Commonly Conducted Telecom Fraud
There are two major telecom fraud divisions: traditional and nontraditional.
Traditional frauds are branched into three subtypes depending on the person defrauded:
- Telecom service providers
- Fraud conducted via phone
- Subscribers
Some of the most popular frauds among these categories are:
- Call forwarding fraud
- Internal fraud
- False answer supervision
- Subscription fraud
- Call transfer fraud, etc.
Let’s learn more about them:
Traditional Fraud
Subscription Fraud: About 80% of telecom fraud involves subscription fraud. It is designed to steal data by offering the victim a chance to get something for free.
The recipient receives a call from someone pretending to be an agent. The person on the phone asks for private information, offering the victim a chance to get a gift (subscription, etc.) in return.
Traffic Pumping: This involves rerouting calls, making them more expensive. Some rural carriers use this trick to have calls routed through them in order to make more money in the name of routing charges.
Internal Fraud: This type of fraud involves telecom employees using their own position to access accounts. They can use their position to perform a variety of frauds including traffic pumping, call forwarding, etc.
Call Transfer Fraud: This is associated with penetrating a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and taking control of the call transfers. This means that the hacker can very well make long-distance calls from the victim’s phone without paying a single penny from his pocket.
Nontraditional Fraud
IoT (Internet of Things): This usually begins with the infamous DDoS attack. Hackers target and tamper with networks to collect crucial data, such as passwords, account details, and credit card details.
How Has Modern Technology Increased Telecom Fraud?
We have moved from traditional landlines to VoIP, emails, texts, social media, etc. People now use smart devices that are always connected to the internet. While they are designed to make life easier, they also put us at greater risk.
These devices are vulnerable as they are always connected to the internet, giving hackers a chance to wreak havoc.
Hackers can do a lot of things, from hacking GPS to accessing private information stored on your devices.
The number of threats is on a constant rise, but there are agencies working on providing users with a layer of security. There are antivirus programs and other ways to prevent hackers from getting access to your system.
However, there’s definitely a need to have a better policy in place. Telecom companies must rise up to the occasion and take measures to protect consumers.
