Increasingly, scammers are targeting business owners in the telecommunications industry and stealing their hard-earned money. While many of these frauds have been seen time and time again, it’s still important to be aware of the most common types of fraud scams so you can avoid them and protect your company’s assets and employees. 

Here are five different types of frauds in telecom and how to avoid them!

1) Billing Fraud

One of the most common types of telecom fraud is billing fraud. Billing fraud is when a customer does not pay for services that have been rendered by the telecom company. This can happen on either side, for instance if the telecom company has not charged the customer correctly or if the customer refuses to pay for their monthly bill. 

With new systems and technologies coming out, billing fraud has become more difficult to detect but there are ways around it. Fraud management in telecom providers is one of them. 

Fraud managers take all incoming data from the customers’ account and compare it against industry benchmarks. The fraud manager will be able to identify any anomalies, as well as help, identify fraud prevention techniques that work best for your business

2) International Revenue Share Fraud

International revenue share fraud is one of the most common types of fraud in telecom. It usually involves someone stealing a customer's credit card information and using it to purchase phone cards or other telecommunications services, which they then sell on the black market at a reduced rate. 

Fraudsters have no problem targeting these types of fraudulent transactions as they can be very lucrative with high return rates. 

The fraud management teams that you have hired need to always stay vigilant for any suspicious activity. So that your company doesn't become a victim. They need to continuously monitor your system for signs of fraud, such as increased call traffic from an area code you don't serve, sudden spikes in line losses or blocked calls from your calling area.

3) Identity Theft

Identity theft is one of the most common types of fraud. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most difficult to detect. To avoid being a victim, you should avoid sharing your phone number with anyone. Use strong passwords that are hard for others to guess. 

Also, turn on two-factor authentication for any account that offers it. To prevent card fraud, always monitor your bank account or credit card balance online or over the phone. Also make sure you monitor when large transactions have been made without your permission.

4) Phishing

Phishing is an attempt by fraudsters to trick you into revealing your personal information. They usually do this by sending you an email that looks like it's from a legitimate organization, such as your bank or credit card company, but asks for your account number, password or other sensitive information. 

Sometimes they'll call and claim they're from a well-known company. This is known as a vishing attack. It can be difficult to know if someone who calls you out of the blue really is from the phone company or if they are trying to steal your identity. 

A way to avoid being scammed by phishers is to never give out any personal information over the phone. Unless you initiated the call and have verified the caller’s identity with a reliable source, such as calling back on a number listed on their website.

5) Spoofing

One common type of fraud called spoofing happens when a fraudster uses an unassigned or invalid telephone number (called a spoofed number) to make it appear like they are calling from the same area code as you. 

All you see on your caller ID is the spoofed number, which tricks you into thinking it's a trusted call. It doesn't matter if you don't answer these calls. Fraudsters can still get away with this scheme by simply leaving a voicemail with their desired goal achieved. They can access to sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and social security numbers.

How Telecom Billing Fraud Management Can Help In Fraud Prevention?

Telecom billing fraud management is one of the most important aspects of telecom fraud prevention. It helps identify and reduce fraudulent activities before they have a negative impact on your business. By using a telecom billing software like NEON that integrates with your accounting system, you can quickly and easily detect irregularities in your customer's accounts.

This will help you to take action if there are any signs of fraud, such as high levels of unauthorised or unauthorized charges being made. Telecom billing system also allows you to manage your refund processes more effectively, ensuring that refunds go to the right customers and don't end up going into corporate coffers instead.

Moreover, by monitoring telecommunications bills for unusual patterns or spikes in usage, you can alert your IT staff immediately. So that they can investigate and take appropriate measures if necessary. 

By taking these simple steps early on in the process, you can significantly reduce occurring the fraud risk in telecommunications at all!

Conclusion

There are many different types of fraud that happen in the telecom industry. But with some knowledge you can avoid them. Telecom raud management is important for any business as it can lead to loss of revenue. 

With a little education, you can avoid different types of frauds in telecom while continuing your company's success. Fraud prevention is an excellent practice which helps to reduce the risk of fraud happening in the first place. 

If a potential fraud does happen, then all 5 steps should be taken so that you can minimize the damage. It starts by educating your employees on what fraud looks like, understanding fraud and creating policies that protect against fraud.