Telkom is closing in on network fraudsters through the introduction of a new state-of-the-art fraud management system that will protect the company and its customers from losses caused by network fraud.
Telcos throughout the world have to be continuously vigilant against fraudsters who "steal" lines from them to sell calls at cheaper rates. This represents some 60% of network fraud, while the other 40% is committed through various other schemes which affect both telcos and their customers.
Telecommunications analysts, Chorleywood Consulting, have estimated that telcos world-wide lose between 3% and 5% of their annual income, which amounts to about US$6 billion in the USA, and US$3 billion in Europe. Last year, Telkom lost over R300 million. Although this is a staggering amount, it is well below the international benchmark.
A number of Telkom customers are familiar with so-called "clip-on" fraud, where fraudsters clip onto a customer`s line and sell calls to overseas destinations for a fraction of the normal rates charged by Telkom. They pocket the money and move quickly from location to location, leaving Telkom to pick up the tab on huge phone bills of innocent victims.
But now, Telkom is calling it a day for fraudsters. While the Company has an ongoing programme to secure its street boxes, pillar boxes and other distribution points from fraudsters, the new system will greatly enhance Telkom`s ability to catch these criminals red-handed.
"The new system detects fraud as it is happening, which will greatly reduce our risks and losses," says Ken Raley, Managing Executive of Telkom`s Network Operations.
The fraud management system monitors customers` lines using a combination of rules and artificial intelligence to detect irregular calling behaviour. The system establishes the usage patterns of all customers and fingerprints these. It continuously monitors the traffic through the network, and will detect any unusual deviation from a customer`s fingerprint. The system then analyses the variation, and generates a fraud investigation ticket which is spooled-out in real time at Telkom Security and Investigations in the geographic area where the fraud is happening. This enables Telkom to start investigations with the minimum of delay.
"Fraud is a moving target and is difficult to control. The self-learning capability of the system allows it to adapt to new methods of fraud, making it a powerful tool in our fight against it," explains Raley.
"The new system has an accuracy of over 80%. This means that eight out of ten fraud tickets generated by the system are actual cases of fraud. This is a huge improvement over the previous system that had significantly less accuracy.
"We have a team of investigators throughout the country who take immediate action. This minimises losses and creates dynamic opportunities to catch the culprits red-handed and bring them to book," says Raley.
Meanwhile, Telkom`s Security and Investigations team have put paid to rumours of another phone scam that are sweeping across South Africa. According to the rumours, an innocent Telkom customer is called by fraudsters and asked to dial #90, supposedly enabling the fraudster to access the customer`s phone line to make calls anywhere.
"We have investigated this, and assure our customers that it is impossible for fraud to be committed this way on Telkom`s network," says Telkom`s Security and Investigations Executive, Leo Stander.
Share
