18:38:14 - 10.03.2010
| MOBILE FRAUD |
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Similar to other areas of life involving money, mobile communications have become a target for fraudsters. One would probably think that in industry, which is at the cutting edge of technology, fraud must take on a “digital” form, that involves manipulation of the data, numbers and passwords, as well as other hacking techniques. However, this is not so. Methods of ripping off honest customers of mobile operators have not undergone any significant change. Man with his natural urge towards saving and freeloading remains the weakest link in the security systems set up by network operators. The law of “free” outgoing calls It is true that the services of mobile communication are quite expensive in Ukraine, especially if compared to the average monthly wage. Therefore, many Ukrainians are forced to save money on mobile communications by spending less time talking. As a result, many of them are tempted to settle this problem by completely obviating the need to pay. And here comes the offer of help…What it looks like. A person receives the following letter via e-mail: “Hello! How much do you have to pay a month to your mobile operator? $40? $50? What a robbery! In civilized countries the subscriber is granted unlimited airtime for only $20.” Then, to restore the justice, the subscribers are offered a “hacked” micro-program for their telephone that would enable them to make free calls. For this service the author of the e-mail asks for a small remuneration, usually of $50, which must be paid in advance. Any personal contacts with the “seller” must be avoided allegedly to ensure privacy of the deal. A security conscious and technology aware person will easily sense that something is wrong, but far not all of us are technology aware, much less security conscious… How it works. The idea of the fraud is very simple: to swindle their victims out their money in the form of an advance payment and then disappear. Those who answer the letter or visit the indicated Web site would be asked to specify the models of their telephones, their IMEIs and other information, allegedly for customization of the hacked soft. Naturally, this is all a sham and nobody is going to do anything. Then, there would be a request to transfer the money by mail or telegraph to a certain person. After that the events may develop according to several scenarios. Most likely, nothing will happen at all. They may also e-mail a link to the file, which must be downloaded from the Internet and most likely the link will not work. Under the “best-case” scenario the victim would receive the soft, which, however, does not do anything. Naturally, nobody would answer angry letters since the fraud has entered its final stage under the motto “Cut and run”. The victim has no choice but to grieve over the lost money. Security measures. Remember once and for all that no changes in the GSM handset under no circumstances can affect the service charges. The airtime and other services are totaled by the operator’s network and the micro-program of your handset has nothing to do with these processes. The cellular network registers the start of the talk, times the talk and delivers this information to the billing system, where the computer writes the necessary amount off your account according to your tariff plan. The callers are identified on the basis of the data of their sim cards. In theory these data could be faked, but not by a fraudster spamming your mailbox. Winner gets … nothing Promotional deals and sweepstakes are two of the favorite techniques of GSM operators to attract new customers and retain the old ones. Most subscribers have participated in them and many were the prize winners. However not all of the promotional deals bring joy as sometimes people, bringing the good new to subscribers, have nothing to do with the operator. The potential victims of this fraud are user of prepaid services who use scratch cards and e-vouchers to recharge their accounts. What it looks like. Potential victims receive a phone call and are told that they were selected winners in a promotional deal of their mobile operator and thus entitled to a prize, a new mobile phone of a prestigious brand. The call is made from the same network, sometimes even from a phone number reserved by the operator for its own office use. When seeing the number of their operator on their phone screen, many actually believe that they are being called by their operator. Then victims are asked for their mailing address to send their prize to. The pleasant talk is finished with an offer to take part in an additional action. According to its conditions, a user must buy a voucher for the specified amount and then tell its code to the organizers, as a result three times as much money will be transferred to his/her account. How it works. The idea of the fraud is to obtain the unused code, which is possible to get only after buying a scratch card and to gain some time to recharge the account of the fraudsters. Talking about the victory and prizes is only a psychological trick: having learned about the prize a person gets slightly shocked and is caught off guard. The objective of the “organizers” is to fool their victim with nice words. After the fraudsters get the code the victims stay in possession of their money no longer than a minute, the time needed by the fraudsters to call the operator and recharge their account… Security measures. Remember that the employees of your operator do not need to get any information, particularly codes and passwords, from you. This information is either available from the operator’s customer profiles or not necessary at all according to the conditions of a promotional deal for the anonymous users of prepaid services. Security services of mobile operators hunt fraudsters, who betray the confidence of their customers, and they can do their job since it is possible to identify the users of a prepaid service according to the numbers there are calling to. So if you call your operator and report the fraud (the sooner you do it the better), you can be a big help to the investigation. It is quite possible to identify which account was recharged with the stolen code. Though it is unlikely that you will be given back your money, bad guys will get what they deserve. The “Corporation” campaign Many see the so-called corporate network connection as the best tariff plan ensuring minimum expenses for mobile communications. Corporate tariff plans are offered to organizations; they are registered in the name of the organization willing to provide its employees with mobile communication at the company’s cost. As a rule these subscribers spend a lot of time on the phone and provide a significant income to the operator, that is why they have certain privileges. The usual conditions of a corporate tariff plan include lower rates of calls in Ukraine and within the network, discounts on the phone bill and, which is most important, very low ( 2-5 cents) rates for the calls between the members of the same corporation. These are very good conditions for the whole family or group of friends to join the corporation as their ensure significant savings. But what if your company’s management doesn’t want to connect your mother or wife to the corporate network? Well, if there is the demand there is the supply. As a result, there appeared numerous firms, real and fictions ones, ready to connect your whole family, friends and anyone willing to their network. What it looks like. Proposals to connect to the corporate network can usually be found in the classified sections. To put it mildly, operators do not have special liking of fictitious corporation as they lose part of their income due to them. That is why they fight dealers and even firms, which connect anyone willing to use their corporate networks. So corporate connection is only half legal business with all the “procedures” that it implies. The potential victim is asked to meet with a private agent, who will sell a connected and activated sim card for cash. For some time the payment was done according to the following principle: “Pay 200 hryvnias and you will receive 500 hryvnias on your account”, but due to the extreme popularity of this method and favorable conditions the price for this service has risen up to 600 hryvnias for a 500-hryvnias deposit. How it works. The machination with corporate connection is based on the fact that the right to administer all the costs on all the accounts of corporate subscribers belongs to one person, the manager or coordinator of the corporation, whereas the subscribers themselves cannot do it. Even most of the additional services are not ordered directly from the operator but through the manager. Consequently, corporate connection offered by unknown people is most likely to be a fraud. This is committed in the following way: the manager transfers the money from the victim’s account to another one, and the operator blocks the sim card of the victim due to the clearing of the deposit. It is very difficult to get the money back, because it is necessary to find the agent, who sold the card, and to prove his relation to the unprincipled coordinator. Security measures. Very simple. Do not buy a corporate connection tariff plan from unknown people. Recently operators widely offer tariff plans and additional services with significant discounts on the calls to several fixed numbers for individual subscribers. So the problem of cheap communication with your spouse or parents can be settle without any risks. If you have been swindled by a fictitious corporation, do not be scared to report it to the militia. Although you were connected unofficially, you violated only the rules set up by the operator but did not break any Ukrainian laws so you must not be afraid of prosecution. Whereas the militia and especially the operators’ security services are very interested in the prevention of “corporate” fraudsters. No documents, no contract,… no rights Contract connection always provides for the responsibilities of both of the parties. By offering bonuses at the time of connection to the network, the operator imposes certain conditions in exchange. These are usually commitments not to disconnect from the network, to pay the subscription fees and to buy a certain minimum of services. If you break these commitments you will be “black-listed”, may face certain problems when trying to re-connect to the network or even end up in court as a defendant. It seems that all of the above is possible to avoid by having connected to the network under a different name without signing of the contract. This, however, gives the trump card to the fraudsters. What it looks like. You come across a private ad offering contract connection to a mobile operator according to the principle “pay 200 hryvnias and get 500 hryvnias on your account”. You don’t have to show or sign any documents. As in the previous case there is a meeting with a private agent and exchange of money for a sim card. Indeed the card is activated and there is the specified amount on the account. You leave happily… How it works. Meanwhile the seller goes to the operator’s customer service center and reports the theft of his sim card. Formally, he is still the owner of the telephone number, card and account. The victim has no rights for them since the purchase of the card was not documented. All of a sudden the card, which was just purchased by the victim, stops working, whereas the fraudster is given a new card with the same number and the same amount on his account. Security measures. Overcome the urge for “freeloading” and sign your own contract and all the appropriate documents. It is practically impossible to “punish” fraudsters in court, since the fact of the sale and purchase of the card and of the account is not documented.
Zerkalo Nedeli |