New study provides insight to global eco-system for telecom fraud

ATLANTA, Aug. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study released by TransNexus, Inc. provides a survey of the global eco-system that enables monetization for billions of dollars in telecom fraud each year. Revenue sharing from international premium rate telephone numbers is the powerful incentive that drives a global, billion dollar telecom fraud racket. The study catalogs the premium rate number services that enable criminals to earn lucrative payouts for pumping fraudulent telephone calls from stolen mobile phones and hacked telephone systems. The scam, known as international revenue sharing fraud (IRSF), has accelerated in recent years with the increase of VoIP systems and the proliferation of software tools for hacking and generating bogus telephone calls.

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The study collected data from 121 premium rate number providers in twenty-five countries.  Telecom toll fraud generally results from calls to premium rate numbers in developing countries.  However, the providers who offer the premium rate numbers tend to reside in developed countries, with the United Kingdom being the home of 26% of all firms surveyed. Thirty-nine percent of all premium rate number providers surveyed do not disclose their location. The survey includes the advertised payout rates for premium rate numbers in 201 country codes with 8,642 different premium rate number products. The lowest advertised payout rate was $0.00013/minute (Ireland) and the highest was $2.325/minute (United Kingdom). The overall average payout was $0.094/minute.

The results of this study reveal that the eco-system needed to monetize International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF) is thriving. The market for premium rate numbers is highly competitive with premium rate number providers offering similar services with minimal differentiation. Providers compete for customers in three ways: 1) Offering the best payout rate and time to payment, 2) Convenience and anonymity for receiving payouts, and 3) tools and instructions to assist fraudsters with call generation.

The full report is available at http://transnexus.com/resources/white-papers/international-premium-rate-number-market/

About TransNexus
TransNexus provides fraud detection and control software for telephone service providers. Its NexOSS-FC software product uses SIP Analytics® to detect and automatically block or divert fraudulent calls in real time before call set-up. The NexOSS-FC product also includes the Shield^sm database of high risk dial codes and advertised premium rate numbers. 

For more information, contact:
TransNexus.com
[email protected] 
404-526-6060

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-provides-insight-to-global-eco-system-for-telecom-fraud-300127147.html

SOURCE TransNexus

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