Combating fraud in the digital experience era

Fraud costs the global telecommunications industry more than $32 billion annually through a variety of both simple and complex schemes. In many cases, the perpetrators adapt old techniques to new technology that can make it easier and safer for them to act. As communications service providers (CSPs) work to make services and processes simpler for customers, they may also inadvertently make things easier for the crooks. To combat, minimize and prevent fraud, CSPs must understand perpetrators’ mentalities and the vulnerabilities they exploit. This includes how they target inherent weaknesses in technology used for securing access credentials, like digital identities, one-time-passwords communicated via SMS, and mobile number portability. Our upcoming research report Fraud in the Digital Experience Era:

• Explains how these fraudsters operate their schemes
• Describes best practices for identifying and preventing their crimes
• Explores emerging vulnerabilities in new services and technologies
• Considers new business opportunities for CSPs in digital identity and user authentication.

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Take Survey It also examines the liabilities telecom operators face, especially as mobile devices play a central role for other industries, like banking, as they provide customers digital and mobile access to sensitive information, products and personal assets. While some forms of fraud do involve complex technical schemes resulting in fraudulent, unpaid bills, most forms arise from human factors. Subscription, dealer and device fraud are all perpetuated by social engineering, bribery and blackmail. Fraudsters use these basic criminal techniques to steal credentials, systems access and hard assets. Greed is the most common denominator, making fraud prevention not only a technology-centric practice, but one that requires an understanding of human psychology and the forces that make people behave in unethical ways. Fraud in the Digital Experience Era will explore the psychology of fraud, with interviews from leading, global experts on fraud prevention and investigation, to prepare CSPs’ fraud managers, product developers and senior executives with the knowledge needed to defend CSPs’ new revenue streams against the fraudster mindset. Keep an eye out for this exciting and informative new report, coming to you from TM Forum Research in early May.