International Revenue Fraud

International revenue share fraud (ISRF) is the artificial inflation of telecom traffic or pumping of traffic to premium rate phone numbers around the world.

How does this work? First, premium rate number aggregators secure many of these costly phone numbers in countries such as Jamaica, Lithuania and many other countries by falsely claiming they’re operating another type of business in those locations. Then, they partner with hackers to who generate high volumes of traffic to those premium numbers by hacking business PBX systems and maliciously directing other phone traffic to the costly numbers, many times without the owner of that phone traffic knowing.

The result is expensive charges on business customers’ phone bills. The hackers and premium rate aggregators who set up the phone numbers share the money they make off these calls.

In addition to securing your PBX system, as noted in the PBX hacking support information, be sure that you’re aware of fraudster practices. Some examples follow:

Billing Statements

Watch your billing statements closely for calls that you did not make. Report any fraudulent activity to your phone service provider and your state attorney general’s office.

One-Ring Callback Scam

A one-ring callback scam often begins when your caller ID displays what appears to be a missed local call or a phone number with the area code 876 or 256. You return the call to see who was reaching you, but are greeted with a message such as, “Hello, you have reached the operation. Please hold.”

The fraudsters are trying to keep you on the line as long as possible in order to direct your call to the premium rate numbers that generate revenue share fraud funds for malicious entities. If you call back a missed call and are placed on hold in such a manner, hang up immediately and report the situation to your phone service provider and your state attorney general’s office.