Fraud & Identity Featured Article

Telecom Fraud a Growing Problem

By Steve Anderson Contributing Writer

Telecom fraud is a problem that started out big and hasn't slowed down since. Even as far back as 2012, companies were bearing the brunt of around $40 billion annually in telecom fraud, and the problem hasn't gotten lighter since. Thankfully, some new technologies are coming out to help address this growing problem, and help make it safer for businesses to communicate.

The efforts made by such technology have, gratefully, helped keep the problem manageable, but only just. Where in 2012, telecom frauds cost the telecom industry around $40 billion, the most recent estimates note that in 2016 the costs were down to $38.01 billion.

That's actually a note of good news, keeping in mind that the opportunities for telecom fraud have only increased since 2012, and in a major way; the growth of the mobile workforce in recent years has proved that much out, along with a rapidly increasing use of and reliance on cloud-based systems. With new risks constantly appearing, though, more flexible solutions are called for that can address both known problems and issues that may be problems in the making.

WeDo Technologies offers one such anti-fraud mechanism, and it's already working with better than 170 of the world's telecom operators—said operators are based in a total of 96 different countries—to address the potential problems and protect against the loss of revenue likely found therein. WeDo Technologies' CEO Rui Paiva commented, “Cloud computing has influenced the way businesses address risk, for areas such as revenue assurance and fraud management, organizations have embraced the fact that cloud and hybrid solutions are the new way of life, making cloud-based fraud and revenue risk mitigation solutions essential - all through a modern mobile environment.”

The good news here is that, over the long term, the line is being held. With 2012 figures looking around $40 billion in losses and 2016 figures looking around $38 billion, by the time inflation and such is accounted for—not to mention the significantly increased number of telecom users and use cases—fraud measures are winning the war against fraudsters. That's not to say the fight is anywhere near over, but rather that the measures are at least keeping a lid on the problem and even seeing some reduction.

Eternal vigilance is the cost of peace, and in the telecom fraud market, that's a cost that doesn't change. We're seeing the value of that vigilance first-hand with numbers on the decline even after nearly five years of fighting, but the size of the decline shows us we have a long way to go.