Revector tracks increasing global threat to mobile operators from evolving frauds

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21 February 2013

• Emerging markets a ripe hunting ground for mobile fraudsters
• Up to 96% of all calls being illegally re-routed in some Asian countries
• $58 billion in revenue lost to billing errors and fraud each year*
• Visit Revector at Mobile World Congress, Hall 7 Stand 7H111

Organised international criminal gangs can defraud a mobile operator by as
much as $3000 per month using just one single SIM card. In reality they
deploy anywhere from a few dozen to many thousands of SIMs to exploit
vulnerabilities in the network, often with help from insiders working for
the operator.

Fraud detection and elimination specialist Revector’s most recent audit of
15 countries found illegal activity in 14, with levels of fraudulent
re-routing in some cases affecting 96% of all calls.

• South and Latin America – Bypass fraud is epidemic in certain countries,
where up to 90% of all international calls are illegally re-routed. Rates of
30-40% bypass are still common.

• Asia – fraud levels vary dramatically from country to country. As low as
4.35% developed nations, others in Asia register bypass fraud in as much as
96% of all calls.

• Africa – operators continue to be a major target for fraud. Recent work in
the region has helped reduce bypass fraud levels, but it still remains a
major problem in many countries where it is not uncommon to detect between
29% – 56% of calls fraudulently delivered.

• Eastern Europe – bypass levels are now reducing to the mid 30% mark, and
in some nations have significantly fallen from previous recorded highs of
64.6% bypass.

Even when fraud is detected, failure to take action by operators has seen
fraud levels increase. This disregard of the issue is an ongoing problem in
developed regions, including Western Europe where operators continue to lose
many millions of US$ each year as a result of bypass fraud.

Andy Gent, CEO of Revector, said: “Operators need to be more concerned about
the increasing levels of fraud we are seeing. It impacts revenues, and
importantly reduces customer satisfaction as rerouted calls offer a poor
user experience. The tools an operator needs to identify and locate
fraudulent activity are now available through a single, easy to deploy, cost
effective platform from Revector which generates the necessary information
for regulators and police to enforce the law and eliminate fraudsters for
good.”