We're all WFH - so who's that calling out from the Office?

There's nobody around to make a call but all the lines are constantly engaged! Somebody is making outbound calls, and quite possibly racking up a huge bill that will fall on your desk in a short while.

This happened to one of our clients a few years ago. Closed for the Christmas break, the company’s system was hacked and the final bill was over £ 15,000! Unfortunately, our client was unable to settle their bill and we had to tidy up the mess! Since then, we have been extra cautious!

Toll or 'dial through' fraud is an ever-increasing issue within the telecommunications business. It doesn't receive the high profile of many of the other 'cyber' crime types that are reported in the press, but it's estimated that the global cost to business is in excess of £ 25Bn a year. The UK is the third most targeted country with an estimated annual cost to business of £1.2Bn.

This article is a little old but it's a good overview of what can happen and why.

https://www.uctoday.com/contact-centre/prevent-detect-toll-fraud/

Our monitoring and billing solutions are constantly looking for suspicious patterns and are very effective in helping us fight Toll Fraud. Our suppliers work closely with us to limit the individual spend per user on the newer, more versatile hosted solutions we provide. Older systems and the more traditional ISDN lines can be just as vulnerable to attack and sometimes harder to monitor to detect fraud in the first instance.

If you are in any doubt it is worth a quick check with your supplier to see how you are covered. It is rare for these instances to be covered by insurance! If you would like any further information, we are always available to help where we can.