Information, Answers Sought to Stem Tide of Misused International Numbers
GENEVA -- Mobile operators and participants in an ITU-T study group on numbering are collecting information on numbering misuse and associated fraud with the aim of better combating the practice, according to a letter by the director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and a report by the GSM Association (GSMA). The association submitted the report to the study group with the aim of raising awareness of both the problem, and scale, of numbering resource misuse as “a key factor in fraud perpetrated against mobile networks” and their customers, the report said. Numbering misuse and fraud are also being discussed in preparations for the World Conference on International Telecommunications in December. The conference will revise the International Telecommunication Regulations.
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The GSMA submission contained 106 reports of alleged misuse from 14 mobile operators for February 2012, it said. The reports of alleged misuse by mobile operators identified international numbers or ranges used for fraudulent traffic, and artificial inflation of traffic, it said.
The ITU-T study group on numbering needs more information on perceived numbering misuse to get a better handle on what’s driving the practice, the letter said following discussion of the report in the study group. The GSMA asked the “assigned owners” of the misused international numbering resources to “investigate the legitimacy of the services offered” in the numbering ranges, said the report we obtained. The association also wants the group to develop “countermeasures to number range hijacking,” which it defined as the “misappropriation of international numbering resources without the knowledge of the ITU-T assigned owners of these resources."
Vodafone India tallied about 500,000 minutes associated with misuse of numbers from Austria, Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Guinea Republic, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Nauru, North Korea and the Maldives. Tata Teleservices in India discovered misuse of numbers for premium rate services from Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. Idea Cellular Ltd. in India logged misuse totaling about 50,000 minutes from numbers from Azerbaijan, Sao Tome, Inmarsat, the Maldives, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Sierra Leone. A sudden spike in calls to premium destinations prompted investigations which led to blocking number ranges.
Customers of another Indian operator received calls from Cuban and Zimbabwe numbers, which prompted some callbacks to numbers with premium-rate services, the report said. India’s Aircel Ltd. discovered misused numbers from Austria, Azerbaijan, Djibouti, East Timor, Guinea, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome, Sierra Leone, Zaire and Zimbabwe. All the countries have high termination rates.
Rogers Communications in Canada reported misuse in the form of artificial inflation of traffic worth about 7,000 minutes from numbers apparently from Sierra Leone. Canada’s Telus Communications logged about 10,000 minutes associated with misuse of numbers from Zimbabwe, Spain, the U.K., Gambia and international network +882. Traffic was inflated due to PBX hacking fraud, the report said.
Telefonica Germany logged misuse of numbers associated with Bosnia and Herzegovina that led to account hacking and subscription fraud, the report said. Massive numbers of calls were made. Vodafone in Germany logged about 74,000 minutes of traffic from misused Estonian numbers. Vodafone U.K. tallied about 90,000 artificially inflated minutes to premium-rate type services associated with misused Latvian numbers. Telefonica O2 in the U.K. tracked hijacked traffic, including traffic en route, using numbers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, the U.K., and Sao Tome and Principe.
Swisscom found misuse of numbers, including artificial traffic inflation, call selling due to high termination, and hijacking from numbers associated with Austria, Azerbaijan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Chile, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, the international networks shared code +882, Gambia, Grenada, Lithuania, Madagascar, Maldives, Moldova, Nicaragua, Niue, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Sao Tome, Somalia, the U.K. and Zimbabwe.
Sentel GSM of Senagal reported spam SMS messages with requests to call numbers with premium services to claim cash. Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. in the United Arab Emirates tallied about 50,000 minutes of misuse of numbers from Guinea, about 4,000 from Latvia, about 10,000 from Mauritania, 25,000 from Somalia, and still more misuse from Zimbabwe, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Libya and Lithuania.
Discussion in the study group focused on a number of possible contributing factors, the letter said. It referred to industry deregulation, new routing practices, and deregulation and evolution of national numbering plans. Stemming “an inevitable revenue leakage” is the “fundamental motivation” for measures to counter numbering misuse, it said. The result of numbering misuse “is a financial blow” for countries or operators without “significant competition,” it said. The available responses are “limited” for those telecom groups subject to perceptions of misuse, it said. The study group is looking for criteria to determine “misuse” and “fraud,” it said. The letter said there is no ITU-T definition of fraud. The study group is looking for information on blocked numbers, numbering ranges and country codes, signaling information, and extraterritorial usage of assigned numbers.