Telephone fraud prevention

PBXs are the most common vehicle phreakers use for their crimes. Only you have access control over your phone system. So you`re responsible not only for its security but also for all call charges incurred from it. Moreover, only you can identify which calls made from your phone system are legitimate and which are fraudulent.

Phreakers search globally for unsecured phone systems to harvest for their own use. And this search is continuous. They don`t care how big or small your business is. No one is safe. Worst of all for you if you do get hacked, you`re probably less likely to be able to absorb the average loss incurred from a phreaking event and the size of the bill would be enough to bankrupt many organizations. It`s really important you and your staff understand the need to protect your business and especially your phone system from this fraud now and to take steps to prevent unauthorized access to it.

The resident security in your PBX was enough to keep you secure in the past but not now. Phreakers, like the criminals, are becoming cleverer all the time in ways to a attack and invade your phone system and they can easily circumvent this security now.

You or your company will. You are responsible for all calls made from your phone system whether or not you or your staff made them and whether or not your carrier/airtime provider has taken any steps or managed to stop or block fraudulent calls.

The only sure way to protect yourself from this particular and financially damaging crime is with automatic, always-on, active voice security like Control Phreak which won`t let phreakers anywhere near your phone system. The risk of becoming a victim of this fraud is already really high and increasing rapidly all the time but only you can control whether you are attacked or not. It is much easier to prevent an attack than to try to recover your business from a phreaking attack. Phreaking is a preventable crime…

Whether you have become the victim of constant marketing phone campaigns or the target of a malicious caller, our nuisance call guide can help.

Sales and marketing calls are made with a view of promoting and selling you a product or service and there are three common types that people receive:

Live sales calls are your typical sales or marketing calls made by a call centre operator with a view to selling or promoting a product or service. You are likely to receive these from companies you regularly deal with, like your bank, but they can also be cold calls from companies you haven’t dealt with before.

While companies are allowed to make these calls, they must stop if you ask them to. Marketing or sales calls should always be courteous and you should never feel pressured or threatened. You also shouldn’t be receiving excessive numbers of calls over short periods of time.

Recorded messages are when calls are not made by an operator and instead you simply hear a recorded message. These aren’t usually made by the company or the service advertised, but rather by an organisation who will then sell on the information gathered to companies offering the service in question. You should not be receiving recorded messages without giving prior permission.

Silent or abandoned calls are where the phone rings but when you pick up you hear nothing on the other end. These come from call centres as well, but are where the call centre uses an automatic dialler to make calls. Once the call gets through to you, it’s supposed to connect to an operator. However, there’s not always an operator available, so the receiver is simply left with a dead line.

There are a number of services and solutions available that can help you cut down on the number of cold calls you receive:

Telephone preference service (TPS) is a free service. It is the official central opt out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.

Organisations with which you have an ongoing relationship, for example those who regard you as a customer, (or in the case of charities – a donor) may well gather your consent during the early stages of your relationship with them and will therefore be entitled to call you even if your number is registered on TPS, unless you have previously told them specifically that you object to them calling you for marketing purposes.

If you are still receiving calls after signing up to the TPS, then you can complain to the Direct Marketing Commission.

If you are receiving unwanted recorded messages you can report these to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Ex-directory: making your phone number ex-directory means it won’t be available in the phone book or directory inquiries, making it harder for marketing companies to find in the first place.

Read the small print online: some online companies and social media sites can pass your contact details onto third party marketing companies when you sign up with them. Make sure you read the small print on anything you agree to and opt out of having your contact details passed on.

Which? the consumer support group, are currently running a campaign to push for the government and regulators to do more to tackle the issue of nuisance calls. We’re happy to support the campaign and we encourage our customers to do the same.

You can find lots of other information on their page too. Including top tips for avoiding nuisance calls and the rights you have in place to protect you.

Scam calls are calls from fraudsters tricking you into believing you’re speaking with a trusted company or person. There are many different scams that fraudsters will attempt to use to get personal or confidential information from you.

If you know the number that called you, it’s really easy to report a scam call to us. When you report a call, we’ll investigate and, where appropriate, stop the number from contacting you or any other Orbex customer in the future.

The best way to report scam calls is e-mail. Simply e-mail support@orbex.co.uk to help us block these numbers.

Malicious calls are calls that contain obscene suggestions, abusive language or even personal threats. If you have been receiving malicious calls, we recommend the following:

Stay calm and avoid talking to the caller: it’s likely they will feed on your reaction so you should avoid slamming the phone down. Instead, put the phone on the side and walk away for a few moments before hanging up.

Don’t give away any personal information: it’s best to avoid answering the phone with your name and number. If you have children, you should tell them this too.

Don’t disclose too much in answerphone messages: make sure you avoid giving away unnecessary information or letting them know you’re not in. Simply say you cannot get to the phone.

There are also a number of call features that can help you with malicious calls. These include:

Caller display: this will allow you to see the caller’s number before picking up, allowing you to avoid calls from specific numbers or allowing you to report the number.

Malicious, abusive or threatening calls are a crime, so if you continue to receive them or you feel the threats to you or your family are serious and immediate, you should speak to the police. Make sure you keep a note of call details like times, dates and content. This will make any potential investigation easier.