Telephone fraud (also known as “phreaking”) is an serious business, costing UK companies in unauthorised call costs. Yet many business owners are unaware just how rife it is and how vulnerable their business could be at the hands of these phone hackers, claims ComputerTel. The firm has added a FraudCatcher solution to their telephony services and products, and have issued a White Paper on phreaking and how companies can reduce their risk.
Sarah-Jane Heber-Hall, from the company, says: “Phreaking and telephony fraud in general refers to any method of unauthorised access to your telephone system, which will result in unauthorised calls made via your equipment and which will incur costs for your company.
“Once your system has been compromised, fraudulent calls are virtually undetectable, with outbound calls being made via your business phone system to anywhere in the world. The cost of the onward call is charged by the UK telecoms provider to you, the business owner, as this is where the new call has originated from. You are liable for all calls made over its telephone lines irrespective of who made them or how.
“It can affect any sized business, whether you are a SME or Scotland Yard – yes, even Scotland Yard have themselves been victims of phreaking. If it does happen to your business, it will leave you having to pay potentially huge costs run up by these fraudsters and maybe in some cases, even facing bankruptcy.
“Many businesses are unaware of the very real threat they face, as this type of fraud is rarely reported in the press, because companies do not want to be perceived as having unsecure telephone lines. Yet hundreds of thousands of companies globally are affected every year.
“That is why we have introduced the innovative Carina FraudCatcher system to our range of services. It is unlike other security management systems currently available which only alert you to potential fraud after the event – FraudCatcher identifies in Real Time any potential fraud on your telephone system, sending alerts to allocated personnel, or if any alerts occur outside of working hours, it will automatically disconnect the call. We believe it is an insurance policy for your telephone system.”
ComputerTel have produced a White Paper entitled: Phreaking Telephone Fraud, which gives useful tips and advice on how to become more aware of the threats of telephone fraud and how to prevent it. It is available, free of charge by visiting this link http://www.computertel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Phreaking-Telephone-fraud-white-paper.pdf
To find out more about FraudCatcher, visit: http://www.computertel.co.uk/products/carina-security-products/
* ComputerTel White Paper Phreaking Telephone Fraud
** http://www.lister-communications.co.uk/should-you-be-concerned-about-phone-phreaking
About ComputerTel
ComputerTel Ltd. is a telecommunications product firm, established since November 1988, with offices based in Kent and Manchester and field service teams in Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Kent and Northamptonshire.
