Telecoms face a significant threat from fraudulent activities. Billions are lost in revenue each year due to evolving and sophisticated scams. In South Africa alone, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts in the telecommunications sector was 15,5% in 2023. This was the highest among all industries analysed by TransUnion in 2023. A more advanced approach in the form of fraud analytics is needed to protect revenue streams and customer trust.Â
Traditional methods of fraud detection, such as simple rule-based systems and manual checks, are struggling to keep up with these threats. These systems are often too slow and rigid to identify complex or new types of fraud.
What Is Fraud Analytics in Telecoms?
Fraud Analytics is a modern approach to fighting fraud. It uses a mix of data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to find, predict, and stop fraudulent actions on telecom networks. Unlike older methods, it can catch fraud as it happens. This is a big step up from waiting for a report at the end of the month. The goal is to protect a business’s revenue and reputation.
The Purpose of Fraud Analytics
The purpose of fraud analytics is to proactively detect and prevent fraudulent activities using data analysis. It can automate certain actions, which makes things simpler and more efficient. It also provides smart insights that help a business act before it loses money.Â
The scope of Fraud Analytics is wide. It looks at many different types of data, such as call records (CDRs), how people use their accounts, roaming information, and more. It searches for strange patterns or behaviour that could signal fraud. By analysing this data, it helps a company protect its finances and run its business better.
Types of Fraud That Can Be Detected Using Analytics
There are a number of different types of fraud that telecoms face. Below are eight fraud types to be aware of.
SIM Box Bypass Fraud
This type of fraud happens when international calls are made to look like local ones. This helps fraudsters avoid paying a lot of money in termination fees. AI can spot this by looking for strange call patterns and checking if the phone’s location matches where the call should be coming from.
Subscription Fraud
Subscription fraud is when someone uses fake or stolen details to get a mobile service. They do not plan on paying for it. Fraud analytics can flag this behaviour. It looks for sudden and unusual spikes in how a person uses their credit.
International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF)
With IRSF, fraudsters make a lot of calls to premium numbers they own. They make money from the high charges on these calls. Near real-time alerts can help detect these large volumes of unusual calls early on.
Roaming Fraud
Roaming fraud happens when someone’s phone is used in a way that is not normal for them. A good example is SIM cloning. This is when a criminal makes a copy of a SIM card. Fraud analytics flags this when a single phone number is being used in two different countries at the same time.
SMS Fraud and Spoofing
SMS fraud involves sending fake messages. A common example is when the sender’s ID is changed to trick a person into thinking the message is from a bank or a friend. Analytics can track these things. It looks for strange bulk SMS patterns, fake sender IDs, and unusual international message routes.
Wangiri Fraud
Wangiri fraud is a missed-call scam. Fraudsters call a person and hang up after only one ring. They hope the person will call them back. When the person calls back, it is to a premium-rate number, which leads to very high charges. Fraud analytics can help identify these numbers and block them.
PBX Hacking
A PBX is a private phone system used by businesses. Criminals can hack into this system to make expensive calls for themselves. Fraud analytics can spot these unauthorised calls and stop them to protect a business from financial loss.
SIM Swapping/Account Takeover
This happens when a criminal convinces a mobile operator to transfer a victim’s phone number to a new SIM card. This new SIM is under the criminal’s control and gives them access to the victim’s SMS messages. This is a problem because many banks and social media sites send one-time passwords (OTPs) via SMS. Once the criminal gets these, they can take over the victim’s accounts. Fraud analytics can detect the suspicious activity of a SIM swap and prevent it.
How Adapt IT Telecoms’ Fraud Analytics Solution Works
Adapt IT Telecoms’ Fraud Analytics Solution helps a business get ahead of threats. This solution acts as a vigilant guard for your revenue and reputation. It monitors everything in near real-time and detects and addresses fraud as it happens. This helps to reduce financial losses.
This solution is powered by CDRlive technology. This technology can process billions of call data records with precision and speed.
Key features of this solution include:
- Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning: This solution uses machine learning and advanced analytics to detect fraudulent patterns and new threats with pinpoint accuracy. This helps to reduce false positives for more efficient fraud management.
- Automated Controls and Validation: Automated controls and validations streamline processes and reduce errors. This also enables immediate action through seamless integration. This solution can automatically suspend or bar fraudulent accounts.
- Executive Dashboard: An executive-level dashboard gives you a consolidated view of your operations. You can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), customer insights, and financial metrics in real-time. This helps you make smarter business decisions.
- Seamless Integration: This solution integrates effortlessly with your existing systems. It connects with billing, provisioning, and charging systems to provide a full view of revenue and fraud activity. It also works with ticketing systems like Jira to create incident reports. It also allows you to capture customer complaints and integrate them into the system for action.
- Regulatory Compliance: This solution helps you maintain compliance with industry regulations effortlessly. It provides audit trails and compliance reporting.
Key Benefits for Telecom Operators
Fraud analytics offers several key benefits to telecommunication companies. Adapt IT Telecoms’ Fraud Analytics Solution helps to protect a business’s revenue and reputation. It provides a more efficient way to manage fraud.
The key benefits of this solution include:
- Reduced Losses: Identifying threats in near real-time dramatically reduces revenue loss. The solution acts on fraudulent activities as they happen to minimise financial losses.
- Increased Operational Efficiency: This solution uses automated controls and validation. This helps to streamline processes and reduce errors. It also reduces the need for manual oversight.
- Enhanced Customer Trust: This solution helps to protect customer trust. It ensures a secure and uninterrupted service. It also helps a business to meet regulatory requirements.
- Regulatory Compliance: This solution helps a business maintain compliance effortlessly. It provides audit trails and compliance reporting to meet all standards.
- Scalable Intelligence: This solution is customisable and scalable. It can grow alongside your operations. It also adapts to new patterns and behaviours, ensuring defences stay robust.
Stay Ahead of Evolving Threats
Fraud tactics are becoming more sophisticated and automated. Legacy systems simply cannot cope with the scale and speed of modern fraud patterns. Telecoms need to move beyond simple monitoring with predictive and intelligent insights to stay ahead.Â
Adapt IT Telecoms’ Fraud Analytics Solution provides this ability. This solution empowers a business to protect essential services and retain customer loyalty. With this solution, a business can modernise its systems without changing what the customer sees or experiences.
Explore the Power of CDR
Download your free white paper to find out how CDR is key to making effective revenue and churn decisions in the Telco industry and why call data records are the lifeblood of telecommunications.
I’m the Advanced Analytics Solution Stream Owner at Adapt IT Telecoms. With my years of experience in the ICT industry, I have gained skills in various areas including Sales, Strategy, Professional Services, Management, Cloud, and Digital Transformation. My team and I specialise in providing niche large data solutions to markets such as mobile network, education, and regulatory. As the Solution Stream Owner, I’m responsible for ensuring that we deliver top-notch services and innovative solutions to our clients. My journey in this field started as a technical engineer and over the years, I have moved into pre-sales, business development, consulting, analytics, commercial, and operations management. This has given me a diverse set of skills, which allows me to have conversations that lead to innovative solutions. What I’m most passionate about is the integration between software and people, both within society and organisations. It’s a challenge, but one that I find extremely rewarding. I’m committed to ensuring that we continue to provide cutting-edge solutions that help our clients stay ahead of the competition.
