According to the Communications Fraud Control Association, the estimated global fraud loss for communications service providers reached $39.89 billion in 2021. This includes various cases of fraud carried out against either CSPs or their subscribers, such as bypass fraud (call and message spoofing), Wangiri/callback fraud, phishing for personal information, and others.
Although global fraud loss has been on the decrease due to the providers’ ability to prevent some of the most common cases and increased regard for cyber security, fraudsters and scammers have also been improving their methods to profit from CSPs and subscribers alike.
Elitnet’s Onyx FMS is an innovative hybrid system for combatting fraud in telco networks. Empowered by state-of-the-art Machine Learning and Big Data technologies, the system detects and prevents various types of fraud in real time, reduces the fraud window, and maximizes cost savings.
Onyx features a synergy of rule-based and Machine Learning-based methods, a full ML model lifecycle, a powerful set of tools for analytics and data drilldown, an open architecture which ensures investment reusability, and a wide range of other values for CSPs.
DETECTED FRAUD CASES
INTERNATIONAL REVENUE SHARE FRAUD
IRSF is a fraud type which involves a fraudster teaming up with a foreign CSP which charges a high call termination rate. A large amount of long calls which are terminated by the participating CSP is made, resulting in a high call termination rate paid by the victim CSP.
ISRF can be identified and prevented by analyzing call data and detecting high volumes of calls to certain foreign countries in real time rather than delaying the analysis of call detail records.
INTERCONNECT BYPASS FRAUD
Interconnect bypass fraud involves fraud cases related to CLI replacement and SIM box usage. This fraud type allows fraudsters to profit from the difference between local and international call rates.
Fraudsters sell international calls terminating in the CSP’s network to subscribers in foreign countries. However, local SIM cards are then used to connect them as local calls, resulting in loss of international call termination rates for the CSP.
WANGIRI FRAUD
Wangiri or callback fraud involves the fraudsters executing short-duration calls from premium-rate numbers with the intention to initiate a callback from the CSP’s subscriber.
Wangiri fraudster numbers are based in foreign countries and their calls usually come in waves, allowing them to cause large amounts of damage to the CSP in a relatively short time. Real-time call data analysis allows to detect and block these attacks in an early phase.
SUBSCRIBER DATA THEFT
Subscriber data theft fraud includes the theft of personal subscriber information by means of call spoofing, message spoofing, USSD manipulation, phishing, and similar activities. It also involves impersonating a subscriber to receive personal data from the CSP or OTT services.
This type of fraud can be particularly damaging to the CSP’s subscribers rather than the CSP itself, therefore early detection is essential for the CSP’s reputation.
OTT BYPASS FRAUD
OTT bypass or OTT hijack fraud involves using an OTT application on the CSP’s subscriber’s device to deliver an incoming call from a foreign country. The calling party makes a normal call, but the foreign CSP routes it through the application while keeping the termination revenue.
All of this is carried out without the calling party’s knowledge, while the receiving party sees the call as coming in through the application. In addition to lost revenue, this may result in a decreased quality of the call and decreased subscriber satisfaction.
OTHER FRAUD TYPES
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning-based methods such as anomaly detection are also used to detect other types of frauds as well as new previously undetected ways to defraud the CSP and its subscribers.
Elitnet is a member of the GSM Association and the Communications Fraud Control Association.
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