Though the sector has recently been doing better on combatting wholesale voice fraud, a lack of market willingness to work together is hampering success. If the choice is investing in solving the problem yourself or relying on a trusted partner, the latter path could suit most carriers much better.
Combatting wholesale voice fraud: a community or individual supplier issue?
Combatting wholesale voice fraud is essential because fraud weakens trust in the overall offering. Recent data suggests, however, that players are pulling back from co-operating with others--forcing brands to either to do it themselves with new technologies like AI, or hope for the best.
A third option is available, however: expert Revenue Assurance from Digitalk Carrier Cloud.
When it comes to voice fraud, there are some uncomfortable facts of wholesale voice market life…
Fact: our industry knows that we need to remove fraudulent traffic from our networks, and no less than 67% of respondents to the most recent GLF Fraud report say that fighting fraud is a top priority—the highest since the group started collecting data on the problem, and up from just 39% year-on-year.
But while the sector has made undoubted progress in curbing the problem in the context of wholesale voice—50% reported that the volume and impact of fraudulent voice traffic has been reduced in the last 12 months, double the ratio for 2023—there is just as big a reality carriers need to recognise: as yet, there is a lack of willingness on the part of your fellow market participants to help you deal with this.
And that means you’re going to have to deal with this on your own. Fact.
Exactly whose problem is voice fraud?
The basis for our pessimism here is what those same respondents told researchers in landmark GLF findings released last October about the fraud problem. The data shows fewer carriers are seen by their peers as showing a "high commitment" to fraud prevention—a 7% drop from 2023.
At the same time, perceptions of ‘low commitment’ to defeating voice fraud went up a worryingly high 19 percentage points, to 24%.
Given the same proportion was only 5% for the previous year's snapshot, something serious seems to be happening when it comes to mutual protection.
GLF believes this may down to pressure to meet financial targets, leading to a “reallocation of resources away from security”, while some carriers may have decided to focus only on specific segments of traffic, or prioritise other operational challenges.
Whatever the drivers, though, while it would ideally be down to collective action when it comes to ensuring that the twin needs of security and securing of margin remain aligned in the ongoing collective fight against fraud.
In other words, if 70% of the market is taking little to no action, then in an industry like wholesale voice, which is built on a chain of trust, this is a problem.
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that progress is being made. Consistent effort and investment by carrier fraud teams is paying off; a very encouraging 50% of carriers reported a reduction in both the volume and the impact of telecom voice fraud.
Anti-voice fraud collaboration and codes of conduct exist, yes. Are they enough to help you, though?
Some of the progress is down to action by those willing to abide by high standards and community responsibility; the GLF sees adherence to its voluntary Anti-Fraud Code of Conduct for Voice as starting to make a mark here, for example.
But while it is, for sure, laudable that 22 industry players have committed to the body’s updated framework on all this, this is hardly our whole industry, reinforcing the need for individual company initiative here.
Which brings us to another fact: there’s some really clever and promising anti-voice fraud technology emerging here, from AI/machine learning to the integration
of APIs enabling interoperability with other systems, and real-time data exchange.
That’s fine if you have the resources and in-house capability to invest in great new techniques. And as fraudsters are just as keen to reap the advantages in terms of productivity and efficiency that Artificial Intelligence can deliver as your team wants, you are essentially going to be in an eternal Arms Race to try and keep ahead of them.
In a context of rising threat (the study shows that 55% of carriers say they have experienced a ‘high’ volume of CLI Spoofing, and almost the same number, 48%, a ‘high’ volume of IRSF/International Revenue Share Fraud, and 34% the same issues with OBR Fraud, for example) weak support for cross-market mutual collaboration to end the problem of voice fraud and the need for more and more sophisticated/potentially expensive investment in the latest anti-fraud techniques.
Why Digitalk Carrier Cloud could be your best way of combatting wholesale voice fraud
What is the best response, then, for a wholesale voice carrier who wants to protect themselves and their partners from a problem where, to cite the GLF one last time for now, “even small fraud incidents can have a significant financial impact”, and so making fraud prevention crucial for protecting profits?
We think we can offer a way forward in the form of intelligent, automated handling of all traffic and which allows you as operators to make informed, proactive decisions, faster.
That’s in the shape of the multiple Revenue Assurance features architected into the Digitalk Carrier Cloud.
Fully integrated and complementary to your other rating and routing functions, Carrier Cloud Revenue Assurance provides advanced, automated fraud detection and blocking.
That’s across key fraud vectors, by the way. The system also identifies and automatically blacklists suspect originations and destinations, while giving the flexibility to review and selectively approve numbers flagged as suspect.
Digitalk Carrier Cloud Revenue Assurance also allows you and your security team to approve traffic that will not be checked by the Revenue Assurance module, enhancing traffic handling capabilities and helping to ensure consistent flows from customers to termination partners.
With a comprehensive range of other anti-voice fraud features, like rich reporting that provides insights to support your business, the end result is a Revenue Assurance approach that doesn’t rely on faith in others and so gives you a way to protect profitability, your reputation and allows you to maximise wholesale voice as a profit centre for as long as possible.
If you agree that using the help of a specialist tracker of all the voice fraud issues out there and who is building responses on your behalf is a better idea than relying on the public spirit of your wholesale voice peers, then read more about how Revenue Assurance sits at the centre of everything Digitalk Carrier Cloud offers.
