Release of 26.03.2020
200,000 Ping Calls Prevented within only 10 Days
Wangiri is one of the most common types of telecoms fraud, a criminal industry amounting costs to the telecoms sector of estimated $29 billion per year. Wangiri can affect any country and any network globally. Due to a connected world, the number of cases has increased by more than 300% in the last few years. This has further been enhanced by the growing with which fraudsters can generate missed call campaigns. With Wangiri, one ring can result in millions of fraud victims.
With the new anti Wangiri fraud tool, ping calls are being recognized and stopped by the new anti-fraud system as inconspicuously as possible for the end customer who would not notice any activities running in the background. In particular, the originating countries currently are Kongo and Tunesia but also other countries associated with Wangiri fraud are tracked. There are already 200 country codes in the loop that are being tested.
Already on the first two days, 98.8% of all ping calls from Africa to Austria were clearly identified as fraud and a total amount of 200,000 ping calls could have been prevented within 10 days by the new tool.
Franz Bader, Director Wholesale, at A1 Telekom Austria Group, says ”With this new anti Wangiri fraud tool, A1 Wholesale has demonstrated the effectiveness with proof of concept. We have successfully prevented massive attacks in the high six figures within a weekend, while end customers have not noticed any of these activities. This new tool works in an extremely satisfactory manner. As a leading telecommunications provider it is of utmost duty to prevent any fraud and help our customers save costs and inconveniences”.
As a voice carrier, A1 is continuously expanding the range of anti-fraud tools through offers to its worldwide customers. A1 Wholesale is considered a safe provider in terms of fraud, because its innovative tools help prevent all these fraud activities and looks back of the successful implementation of “Fraud and Security Services”. The company has also been awarded with numerous prizes.
https://www.a1.group/en/wholesale/sim-box-detection-service
https://www.a1.group/en/wholesale/awards-certificates
During a next step, the test phase will be rolled-out across the A1 Group markets (Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Republic of North-Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Belarus, including Telmex in Mexico).
The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation and Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR) is warning of so-called ping calls at regular intervals. Last week only, RTR published an announcement warning not to call back ping calls with the + 242 numbers, as high costs could arise. In this context, the authority has registered increased complaints in recent days. Especially in the current situation around the coronavirus, where customers make multiple global calls, there is an increased risk of abuse.
Background Information
Wangiri, meaning “one ring” in Japanese is a scam, prompting customers to immediate return a call. The mobile phone suddenly starts ringing, but stops almost as quickly and the recipient cannot manage to answer the call. As the number cannot be identified many recipients call back. Usually they are connected with an international number, which often results in significant connection fees; in addition, victims are being charged a high price-per-minute whilst on the call. Communications fraud or phone fraud is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunications company or its customers. Many operators have increased measures to minimize fraud and reduce their losses. Communications operators tend to keep their actual loss figures and plans for corrective measures confidential.
A1 Telekom Austria Group Wholesale
A1 Telekom Austria Group Wholesale is an established telecommunications provider in CEE with around 25 million retail customers across the markets of operations. The strategy focus is on quality, time to market and state of the art products & services. A1 is currently operating in seven countries in CEE offering on-site service within the footprint. Due to the operating companies and retail subsidiaries A1 Wholesale can provide its customers with in-depth cultural understanding and customer-driven product developments. The portfolio covers a wide variety of innovative solutions including data, voice, mobile, messaging, signaling for roaming, identity and satellite solutions. With its majority shareholder América Móvil, A1 Telekom Austria Group offers one of the biggest fiber footprints worldwide. Customers benefit from a wide range of backbone-based services on Points of Presence (PoP) in 47 countries.