Security in NFC
by Andy Gent Anti-fraud and security measures are critical requirements for NFC payment and ticketing and as such, it is important to understand the security within an NFC enabled environment. Mobile phones come equipped with a pass code that can be activated by the user. But as we have outlined in the past, some 30% […]
Day to day fraud risks
By Andy Gent An interesting article in the Daily Telegraph on cyber criminals taking a stroll around the streets of East London in order to gather sensitive information for the purposes of fraud led me to think about the generic risks of using the mobile phone in public. The article points out that a casual […]
Removing fraud from Near Field Communications
The mobile industry is famous for predictions of the next big thing which do not come true. For several years, before the introduction of touch screen smartphones, we were confidently told that ‘this will be the year of 3G’. Indeed this happened so frequently that I believe the ‘year of 3G’ actually lasted almost a […]
Mobile fraud: the China crisis
By Dilip Mistry The BBC recently published a story on the growth of China as a hub for cyber-criminal activity and mobile fraud. Amongst the various scams outlined, originally from a Trend Micro report called The Mobile Cyber Criminal Underground Market in China, were the ability to send bulk spam text messages at a rate […]
Spanish police arrest another “most wanted” mobile fraudster
By Andy Gent Back in November we wrote about two phone hackers making the FBI’s Most Wanted list for cyber-crime. It seems that Farhan Arshad and Noor Aziz Uddin were not the only phone fraud criminals that were under the watchful eye of the US Government with the news this week that Juegers Veloz has […]
Unintended consequences
by Mark Yelland Apple repays parents $32.5 million in in-app purchases At first glance, there seems to be nothing untoward about the settlement, and many are likely to see it as a reasonable decision – although it did not go to court and so no legal precedent has been set. For telecoms fraud professionals, the […]
Spanish police bust crime gang using premium numbers
By Andy Gent Interesting news from Barcelona where the local police force have managed to crack a crime syndicate that had been using a premium number scam to defraud mobile operators. Premium number frauds are not uncommon. Typically, fraudsters will purchase premium numbers in international countries and then steal phones to order. They will then […]
Android unlocks new grey routes for SMS bypass
By Andy Gent Warnings issued by the UK’s mobile operators to customers using text-message-relaying apps indicate this latest fad could be used for generating SMS bypass, a fraudulent activity on the network. The apps exploit the unlimited text allowance subscribers receive from the operator and the ability to relay an unlimited number of text messages […]
Victims of phone theft gain protection from UK operators
By Shane Wilson The BBC has reported that under an agreement between the UK government and four mobile operators, subscribers who have their phone stolen will now be protected from “sky-high bills.” Culture Secretary Maria Miller has secured an agreement to cap the maximum amount customers of EE, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone would be […]
Chinese police arrest SMS fraud gang
By Dilip Mistry Chinese police in Dalian have seized a 14 strong gang of alleged fraudsters involved in a fake SMS plot which is believed to have netted 1 million yuan ($164,100) since October. The gang is believed to have carried out at least 10 counts of text message fraud in just over a month […]