Fraud is going up, according to major carriers. A survey presented at the Capacity Europe conference in October noted that international revenue share fraud (IRSF) is of increasing concern, as are SMS phishing and impersonation.
The GLF Fraud Report 2022’s survey was conducted by Delta Partners for the ITW Global Leaders Forum (GLF), an organisation facilitated by Capacity Media that represents carrier business leaders.
The report notes that the “increased sophistication of the technology being used by fraudsters has created challenges for carrier fraud teams”. It also states that the “financial impact of wangiri fraud” – in which fraudsters call a number at night, hang up immediately, and earn money when the person calls back – “has been mitigated through better detection and prevention tools” but “volume is still increasing”.
Collaboration
Judit Gerloczy Albers, director of wholesale at A1 Telekom Austria, wrote in her introduction to the report: “As fraud continues to evolve each year, industry members are faced with a constantly changing environment which requires talent, dedication and, most importantly, collaboration within the industry.”
This is the fifth consecutive year that the GLF has surveyed members for insights and trends on how fraudulent activity affects its members’ operations. This year, messaging fraud was added to the list of factors to evaluate. “This has helped build a truly unique perspective on how carriers are affected by fraud throughout their entire product line,” writes Albers.
IRSF is not only increasing in size, but has a potentially high financial impact (see chart above). It “is still the highest concern for the industry, with more than 50% of respondents acknowledging its high volume and impact” writes Albers, but she adds that “good work and collaboration must continue to further mitigate the effects of fraudulent traffic”.
Regarding messaging fraud, “SMS phishing and impersonation are of most concern for the industry, with 55% of our respondents seeing an increase in volume.” The industry needs to “continue to educate our clientele and generate awareness”, she warns.
More carriers are prioritising fraud management, and 77% of respondents have seen an increase in investment in fraud management tools, and 47% expect an increase in their anti-fraud teams.
“We see an improvement in how the industry perceives their peers’ commitment to fight fraudulent traffic,” says Albers.
The GLF notes that 20 international carriers have now declared themselves in compliance with the industry’s anti-fraud code of conduct. The list includes significant industry names such as Airtel, BICS, BT, Telefónica Global Solutions, Telstra and Vodafone.
Sophistication
However, only a third of respondents to the survey saw a decrease in the impact of fraud. The report says that fraudsters’ increased sophistication and technology are bringing great challenges to carriers’ fraud teams.
These concerns should be translated into more collaboration by fraud teams and the overall community, as they affect many actors along the value chain, says the GLF report.
SMS fraud is in high volumes but “effective firewall systems and the nature of the fraud results in use cases having a low financial impact on respondents”, says the GLF.
Albers says: “I am proud that we have continued this process as it is important that, as an industry, we promote the work that these carriers are doing to minimise the prevalence and impact of fraud.”
The GLF Fraud Report 2022 and Carrier Code of Conduct Attestation against Fraud can be downloaded free from itwglf.com
