Starhome Mach: Operator's Roaming Fraud Losses Can Reach $43,000 Per Hour

Starhome Mach, a global leader in mobile inter-carrier and M2M/IoT services, reports that mobile operators continue to suffer significant fraud losses due to an ever-increasing number of International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF) cases, with average losses of about €15,000 per hour, and up to €40,000 during severe incidents caused by fraudulent roaming calls. The actual total loss per case can reach hundreds of thousands of Euros.

IRSF is usually performed by fraudsters making simultaneous calls and generating as many voice minutes as possible before the fraud is detected and blocked. It is the most common and lucrative type of fraud, affecting telecom operators daily. Starhome Mach's Real-time Anti-fraud (RAF) solution, which was recently ordered by a major EU operator, detects such fraud cases in real time and enables the operator to take immediate actions to stop the fraud and prevent the significant related losses.

An example Starhome Mach discovered through analyzing its global clearing and operational data involved a European operator and thousands of fraudulent calls placed to a country in central Africa which caused losses of more than €200,000. A system with real-time detection and action would have prevented this loss.

"These alarming figures we see across operators around the world show how much damage a single SIM can cause in a roaming IRSF scenario and how critical real-time detection and prevention is," said Starhome Mach CEO Itai Margalit. "Unlike the traditional anti-fraud solutions that detect the losses after the fact, the only effective way to immediately reduce the IRSF related losses is to automatically monitor, detect and take action in real time, as soon as the fraudster starts to operate. "

Although the Industry implemented Near Real-time Roaming Data Exchange (NRTRDE) in 2008 to speed up the exchange of call detail records among network partners, roaming remains the most vulnerable service to fraudulent attacks. Starhome Mach's analysis shows that on average, without a real-time solution, operators stop the roaming fraud after more than 18 hours from the first fraudulent call. This delay allows the fraudster to generate significant financial gains for itself at the expense of the home operator. In some of cases, the loss rate reached €40,000 an hour.

Starhome Mach has applied its extensive experience in global roaming to develop the Real-time Anti-fraud (RAF) product. It detects, mitigates, and prevents fraud in real-time while complementing existing fraud management solutions. The technology focuses on well-known fraud like PBX hacking, roaming fraud, and IRSF scenarios originating from subscription fraud, stolen phones and SIM swap.

The operator has complete control over the system, creating customizable blocking rules (who, when, where, length of call) rather than mass blocking, which affects quality of service for legitimate subscribers. The solution works for both domestic (fixed & mobile) and roaming (inbound & outbound).

Source: Starhome Mach release