Another week, another mobile phone scam
Our attention was drawn to an article published by Norfolk Police in the UK regarding another mobile phone fraud scam. An elderly man received three mobile phones in the post. He had the good sense to contact the network operator that had sent these and advise them that he had not ordered them. He also […]
Fighting a global battle against phone theft
Nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco last year involved a mobile phone; in Washington, a record 42% of robberies saw mobile phones taken. In New York, theft of iPhones and iPads last year accounted for 14% of all crimes. According to the Telegraph, Police and industry sources now admit that the sophistication of the criminal […]
GSM Gateways back in the High Court
We were interested to read that six UK telecoms companies have appeared in court this month to challenge Government rule changes over GSM Gateways which they claim were unlawful. The litigation has been rumbling on since 2009 when former GSM Gateway operator VIP Communications filed a £625 million damages claim against T-Mobile. Terminated by T-Mobile […]
Roaming charge changes demonstrate needs for more transparency from operators
July 1st 2013 marked the first day of a new regime of roaming charges across Europe. Reaction to this has been mixed and has varied from positive (EU Roaming rates slashed) to negative (EU Roaming rates slashed). Opinion varies from those that see this as a step on the road to a more customer friendly approach […]
Call Selling
Continuing our series on different types of mobile fraud, Mark Yelland analyses the risks of call selling to mobile operators. Call selling is the practice of selling service to customers at below market rates but using another person’s system and equipment to deliver that service. The usual practice is to sell cheap international calls to […]
System Access Fraud
Continuing our occasional series on the different kinds of fraud that take place on mobile networks, Mark Yelland, an international expert on mobile fraud and revenue protection looks at System Access Fraud: Most PABX systems have a means for the maintainer to dial into the system to perform remote diagnostics and system maintenance through dialling […]
Subscription fraud
Continuing our occasional series on the different kinds of fraud that take place on mobile networks, Mark Yelland, an international expert on mobile fraud and revenue protection looks at the risks associated with subscription fraud: Subscription fraud is usually described as using a service with no intention to pay. The concept is straightforward: the fraudster […]
When business opportunity becomes mobile fraud
Imagine the mood of a mobile phone sales person on hearing that the customer in his store wishes to open nine new phone lines for his business. The commission alone should ensure a Happy Christmas! However, recently in Petersburg, US, this kind of transaction was used to mask a fraud that has left mobile networks […]
John McAfee’s knee jerk response raises serious issues about privacy
The Daily Telegraph reported last week that John McAfee, the entrepreneur and founder of McAfee Anti-Virus, who is currently wanted on murder charges, posted a request last week on a message board regarding how long it would take authorities to triangulate a mobile phone signal and with what accuracy. You can see the Daily Telegraph […]
Social media – the new playground for fraudsters. Part 2
As we have seen, social networking sites are particularly vulnerable to fraudsters because they are communities built on trust. The urge to post personal and often intimate details of your everyday social and working life makes these site rich pickings for identity theft. Fraudsters will often set up false identities on the larger social networking […]