Press Release
A game-changing product that transforms the verification of phone numbers globally has been launched to help businesses in the telecoms sector tackle the rise of sophisticated fraud.
TeleShield from TMT Analysis gives telcos, mobile network operators, voice carriers, and host of other businesses working in the sector, the power to detect and stop telephony fraud – an issue which costs the sector billions of pounds every year.
Types of fraud including Origin Based Rating (OBR) and International Revenue Share Fraud (ISRF) have been growing hugely in recent years.
Telephony fraud has resulted in losses exceeding $38B according to the CFCA (Communication Fraud Control Association). In 2019 ZDNet estimated damages from IRSF fraud alone to be between $4 – 6.1B.
TMT’s new TeleShield offering uses a wide range of authoritative sources of numbering information and portability data to offer a robust solution utilising the proven TMT infrastructure.
The service can shield customers from being the victim of fraudulent telecommunication scams by determining the validity of a phone number, including additional optional attributes that go beyond typical fraud solutions. These enhanced attributes make the TeleShield solution applicable to additional use cases that need access to real-time phone number information, including whether a number has been assigned to a customer, has recently been ported or is currently roaming.
TeleShield is the fastest and most accurate global service of its kind currently on the market tackling fraud via voice and messaging.
Mark Page, VP Sales, TMT Analysis said: “Frauds such as OBR & ISRF are a growing problem for companies working in the telephony sector and they have a huge financial impact on these businesses globally.
“TeleShield enables companies to detect and defend themselves from this kind of fraud, thereby protecting their profitability and reputation with their customers.
“Working with us adds an extra layer of protection and enhanced visibility regarding the numbers that you are seeing. In real time this highlights potential fraud risks which ultimately improves margins and the quality of service provided by our customers.
“Number verification is absolutely crucial for any business working in this sector. The authentication we provide also brings peace of mind and the opportunity to stop fraud before it affects your bottom line or the service you provide to your customers”
TeleShield offers industry-leading coverage of 240 countries and real-time intelligence for telephone numbers. It also eliminates up-front investment in hardware and software.
UK based TMT is one of the leading companies in the world specialising in mobile numbering intelligence enabling organisations to obtain rich and actionable data to strengthen and validate the user verification process, reduce fake accounts, give risk insights, improve conversations, and determine the optimal channel for message delivery.
TeleShield can provide three very simple data points that together can help to eradicate these types of fraud:
Is the number real (length, format etc.)?
Is the number in use (i.e. does it belong to an allocated range, is it in service)?
Does it come from a higher risk group (e.g. premium rate numbers, VoIP numbers etc.)?
Together these data points combine to give a more holistic picture regarding the trustworthiness of the number, in real-time.
Common Mobile Fraud explained
Origin Based Rating (OBR) Fraud – OBR is a By-pass fraud scheme that uses telephone number spoofing. The terminating network which is typically mobile, will apply a surcharge to the termination rates based on the country of the call’s origin. Using unallocated ranges is common in Origin Based Rating fraud. The fraudster replaces the originating number with a false number to make it appear as though the call is coming from a country that has a less expensive call termination rate. If the aggregator/hub doesn’t check the validity of the calling number, it will process the call and then be billed a surcharge, after the fact, when the terminating network determines the number is not valid. The surcharge can increase the price/minute for a call from €0.02 to €0.25. Customers have indicated that they have unexpectedly received invoices with surcharges of upwards of €300,000. This type of fraud is increasing as more and more mobile operators deploy OBR surcharges and penalties.
International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF) – IRSF is one of the most lucrative fraud schemes since it is often done for hundreds/thousands of TNs. It uses as its foundation high rate (premium) phone numbers and bad actor International Premium Rate Number providers. These providers have global networks and work with fraudsters to position receiving a share of the revenue generated from the scam. A fraudster sets up Premium Number TNs with a very high per minute charge (e.g., €10/20) and uses an auto dialer to leave a high volume of calls for a call centre. The scheme includes keeping the call centre contact on the line for many minutes using delaying tactics, resulting in the accrual of potentially hundreds of Euros of fraud charges for each call.
