139 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
139 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ (I)nternational (P)hreakers (X)change ³
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³ ³
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³ > Presents < ³
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³ ³
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³ Phone Fraud (Newspaper Article) ³
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³ ³
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³ Typed Up By: GrIm Reaper ³
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³ August 18, 1990 ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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- Miami Herald
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Phone Fraud
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- Companies' systems become targets of schemes
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NEW YORK-Businesses, not individuals, are becoming the victims of choice
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in the thriving crime of telephone fraud, industry experts think.
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Phone fraud accounts from $500 Million in losses, or about 1 percent of
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the $50 billion in revenues earned by long-distance carriers annually, says
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the Communications Fraud Control Association, a group based in McLean, Va.
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Traditionally, long-distance schemes consisted mainly of calling-card
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fraud - mostly unauthorized use of individual's or bussinesses'
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carrier-issued calling-card billing numbers. Other phone service thieves
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used so-called "black boxes" that emit a tone to allow access to
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long-distance lines.
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But individual calling-card fraud is being taken over rapidly by another
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scheme - one that victimizes bussiness telephone systmes called private
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branch exchanges or PBXs.
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"Abusers are now going after the more vulnerable PBXs and are having
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a field day." said Rami Abuhamdeh, whose fraud-control association is
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financed by telephone companies and law enforcement agencies.
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PBXs schemes focus on a feature on the phone system that allows
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company employees to dial into the home office - usally on 1-800 or
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WATS line - from outside. Then, after punching in a personal
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identification number, they get a second dial tone and can make calls
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as if they were sitting at their desk.
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Calls made using this feature, called reorigination, allow the company
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to save the additional charges that long-distance carriers assess for
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calling-card use.
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To get the three- to four didit security codes, computer hackers use
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programs on thier own personal computers. Equipped with a telephone
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modem the hackers can automatically dial numbers sequentially until they
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hit upon the right combination to access an outgoing line.
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A hacker can even start the program before he goes to bed and by the
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time he wakes up in the morning, he'll have the cde number, said Bob Fox
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of United Telecom.
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Abuhamdeh said that thieves are focusing on PBXs in part because larger
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long-distance companies have increased their security against calling-card
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fraud.
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Access codes also have been sold by disgruntled employees at some
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companies. Fox said calling-card fraud at United Telecom's US Sprint
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is down to insignificant numbers. But for businesses victimized by
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PBX fraud, losses can be staggering.
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Fox said $30,000 to $40,000 in extra charges is not unusual. Among
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the most innovative attempts at eliminating remote-access fraud is a
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device deleloped by US Sprint that can recognize the precise voice
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pattern of a legitimate customer.
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The customer, after registering his voice pattern with the long-distance
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carrier, simply says his identification number into his phone and the voice
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recognition device verifies the user's identity.
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"It applies to both long-distance companies and PBX users. The
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technology is at point right now where it's changing every day and becoming
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better," Abuhamdeh said.
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Companies can take immediate steps to fight against PBX fraud by
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increasing remote-access code numbers to as many digits as the system allows
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and not using numbers in sequential order, Fox said.
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Fox also recommends that companies turn off the reorigination feature
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of a PBX during hours when the system is not normally used and review
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remote-access records as frequently as possible.
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CRIME CALLS
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The different kinds of telephone fraud and estimated ammual losses in
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millions of dollars:
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Institutional Fraud : $150 30%
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Subscription Fraud : $50 10%
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Electronic Long-Distance Fraud : $75 15%
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Flat-rate Multilevel Marketing Schemes: $125 25%
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Call sell Schemes : $100 20%
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Institutional Fraud: Fraud originating at colleges, military bases and
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prisions.
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Subscription Fraud: Phone users who don't pay accounts, use fictitous names,
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etc.
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Electronic Long-Distance Fraud: Hackers with personal computers use modems
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to connect to other computers by illegally using long-distance lines.
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Flat-Rate Multilevel Marketing Schemes: One person sells flat-rate
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long-distance service to some of his friends; they in turn sell it to thier
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friends, etc. (Not all such operations are illegal.)
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Call sell Schemes: Someone operating out of a pay phone or residence sells
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long-distance usage, using unauthorized billing numbers to pay for the
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calls.
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-SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Communucations Fraud Control Association, The
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Associated Press.
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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-Check Out iXP's Infoletter #1, And Infoletter #2 (When Available)
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IPX Vmb
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305-787-7900
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Box : 407853
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GrIm Reaper
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-iPX Staff
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