What has happened to fraud in the telecom industry Do you think it is still around Should you as an owner of a business be worried The issue of phone fraud is a major concern to all companies, despite the numerous advancements in technology for security It's terrifying to think of the potential cost of thousands for an enterprise due to phone fraud Phone fraud can still cause financial damage to your business This is terrifying Even after the introduction of VOIP technology thieves continue to discover ways to break into complex systems, and companies like mine are still susceptible to being hacked Three main types of phone frauds should be of concern to the majority of people This article will address the three types of phone fraud Nuisance fraud cramming and smashing, fraud on the proprietary phone system PBX Key System, PBX Voice mail fraud, and the most recent problem, fraud on VOIP phones Nuisance Fraud The majority of us as business professionals have at one point or another come across nuisance fraud, also called cramming and slamming Although nuisance fraud isn't likely to cause a major disruption to any business, it can deplete revenues if it's not addressed on the phone bill Cramming happens the process whereby a third party charges fees and services which the client didn't authorize These charges are neither ordered nor desired by your company These charges can include products and services, such as fake voice mail service charges operator assisted calls, call card services, monthly service fees as well as credit check services You may also be charged directly for fake white pages or yellow pages advertising Cramming is the practice of adding charges to a subscriber's phone bill for services that were neither ordered nor desired by the consumer or for the cost of calls or services which were not disclosed to the customer These charges are typically imposed by dishonest third-party suppliers of communications and data services which phone companies are required by law, to permit third parties to charge on the bill Have you ever looked at your phone bill and notice unusual charges from "other providers" that you didn't recognize If yes, the chances are very good that you've been crammed For businesses with large budgets these charges are hidden deep within the bills and are hard to see and may go on for many years, month after month, without being recognized How do you fight fraud and obtain refunds First, call your local provider and request for them to cancel the charges to the party who was responsible for the cramming The majority of cases will be retracted If they don't cooperate and you are not satisfied, you can make contact with the FCC or your state's attorney general and the FTC to make an FTC complaint First, inform the crammer that you'd like to give them the opportunity to repay your money Slamming occurs when a provider provides local, long distance or local toll services and an unintentional change or switch Slamming is frustrating because dishonest phone companies can easily to switch or "pic" your long distance service on their plans, often at a much higher rate than the one you had chosen or preferred carrier had provided After you have discovered the fraud, there is still the headache of switching all your lines back to the provider you are supposed to have, and obtaining the fraudulent service to issue you a refund How can you avoid this Ask your carrier to place the "pic freeze” for your telephone lines If you want access to all your local, long-distance and cell phone accounts, you must request the carrier to provide a corporate password You can restrict access to these accounts to two people Phone system and voice mail fraud These kinds of frauds are an issue for many businesses and will continue to be a problem for as long as businesses have PBX and Key type phone systems in place Long distance calls are expensive and hackers are able to gain access https//wwwonlinepokiesme/enjoy-instant-play-casino-gaming/ is easier to avoid these kinds of crimes than to fix it once it's occurred Let's face the truth hackers, like other criminals are lazy They'll just leave your company and move on to another one if you don't have the proper safeguards Make sure that the master default passwords that are provided by your phone manufacturer for your phone are updated at the address you provide Hackers have the passwords and could easily access your system if they have access Many of these master passwords for phone systems ie The majority of the master passwords ie Avaya Siemens, Nortel Mitel, Cisco, Mitel, Mitel and Mitel can be found on the internet Change your password by calling the organization that services your telephone system Make sure your remote access to you phone systems are secured This is usually accomplished through the use of encryption technologies for security to ensure remote access to your system Then, ensure that your employees aren't using simple passwords such as "1111" to access their voicemail accounts They can easily be stolen Make sure you set your voice mail system to automatically remind employees update their passwords each 90 days at minimum Make sure you remove all voicemails that were not used by employees when they quit the company Why The hacker takes control of the voicemail box and records the phrase "yes" He then connects to an outside party in charge and instructs the outside operator to call the number for your former employee's mailbox The operator says, do you agree to pay third party fees for Mr Jones' call and the voice mail box responds, "yes" as programmed Today, companies face a different threat from weak links in their personnel, especially the receptionist at the company This is sometimes called "social engineering fraud" https//wwwonlinepokiesme/guide-to-online-gambling-slots/ and your receptionist should be aware of a call that's received, where someone could identify themselves as a representative of the phone company who is conducting tests on lines They might say, "I'm with the phone company and am conducting an experiment on your phone systems please transfer me to a specific extension" Transferring a caller's number to specific numbers first connects to an outside line "dialing 9" and "dialing the 0" connects to the outside operator who can facilitate a call to anywhere in the world to the thieves The calls are later charged to your company Hackers also have different techniques, for instance, finding the board members of large companies and impersonating them in calls made to your company Because board members rarely have contact with receptionists as frequently as employees, it is possible for receptionists to not be able to recognize their voice However, due to the board members' prestige, power or reputation in the business, receptionists are well aware of their power, which is why the perpetrator can have unlimited transfer ability to commit his crimes Most often the perpetrator isn't found until the bill is paid Inform the employees and receptionists of this ploy This crime was used by numerous companies to generate thousands of dollars in international calls If your business has a toll-free number for inbound calls, be on alert Hackers may call 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 calls forwarding and conferencing functions on your company phone system that might assist hackers in forwarding calls for you Make an appointment with your vendor of your phone system to conduct a vulnerability assessment check that your phone system is secured Many of the major telephone equipment makers, such as Siemens, Nortel, Nortel, and Mitel have security bulletins to assist in keeping your security system secure VOIP Fraud Third and final concern regarding the fraud of voice calls in telecoms While fraud involving voice over IP is not yet fully established but it is becoming common In the section on phone system fraud, changing the passwords of your system in the VOIP phone system is among the best ways you can prevent this type of fraud Recent attacks against VOIP systems are starting to draw greater attention, but the actual instances of fraud are just beginning to be a problem In 2007, two men were detained for routing calls using unprotected ports on networks at other companies to route calls to providers Over three weeks, the two men routed half one million calls to a VOIP service Federal investigators believe the two could have earned as much as 1 million from the fraud But, actual instances of VOIP fraud using the systems are unusual, yet there is a lot of potential for harm as vulnerabilities and holes in security are becoming prevalent and more easily exploitable by hackers who are skilled and resourceful VoIP hackers are able use passwords from company systems in order to access voice systems They also have the ability to get millions of minutes of long distance service How How Hackers develop and utilize custom software code to decipher access codes, gain access to gateways and data ports and even hack into computer systems Hackers can find it easy to make use of default or poorly chosen passwords These attacks can be countered and you should keep up-to-date with the most recent technology for security and fraud prevention guidelines Contact your VOIP equipment providers to get specific details about the best way to safeguard your system If you have a large VOIP system, it might be beneficial to hire a professional to perform a security audit of your system IP business consumers and IT managers must utilize the most recent encryption methods for their network access and train and monitor their employees on effective safeguarding of their company data and IP system data An extensive telecommunications audit is the best way to find out whether there's any type of telecom fraud within an business