Business telecommunications and IT systems

A company, which has asked to remain anonymous, was the victim of voice mail hacking last night.

"Thanks to du Pré and their fraud identification systems," said the MD, "we were made aware that illicit phone calls were being made through our voicemail and telephone system. We received a call from du Pré at 9.30 last night, advising fraudulent phone calls appeared to be being made on our main telephone number, and would we like something done about it? The numbers were expensive 0870 numbers."

The customer asked that all outgoing calls on their lines be barred immediately.

Telephone fraud protection

The hackers had run up bills totalling £480 in just a few hours. The du Pré automatic Calls and Lines monitoring systems alerted of the unusual activity and the customer was contacted immediately.

Had the customer not had Fraud Protection on his Calls and Lines, the problem would probably not have been noticed until the next bill by which time the call charges would have been enormous - well into the thousands of pounds.

How is it done?

Hackers target companies which use voice mail. Just like a virus, they try different passwords until they can work their way through to administrative control of the voicemail. Here, they activate the 'divert to trunk' feature.

Calling into the voicemail then gives them a free line on which to make their calls but at the unsuspecting company's expense. Until this is realised by the company the fraud can continue for months and months until someone realises the bills are far higher than normal.

The Hackers then sell the details to people who want to make expensive calls.

There are even websites which detail how to do it.

Is telephone fraud common?

Unfortunately, it is. The Police call it Dial Through Fraud, and they liaise with BT whenever it is reported.

What is the worst known case of telephone fraud?

A well know Bank which was taken for £240,000 over one weekend.

Who has to foot the bill for telephone fraud?

The person or company renting the telephone line on which the calls were made. You cannot insure against this fraud.

What can be done to prevent telephone fraud?

First, make sure your voice mail has the latest software upgrade. du Pré can help with this.

Second, if you have your Calls and Lines with du Pré, ensure you have asked for Fraud Protection.