How voice fraud works, and how to prevent it

Voice fraud diverts traffic to generate illicit revenue, often at the victim's expense. Because charges accrue in real time, a single undetected incident can be expensive. Understanding the common patterns is the first step to preventing them.

• IRSF (International Revenue Share Fraud): traffic is pumped to high-cost numbers that pay the fraudster a share.
• Wangiri: missed-call scams that lure victims into calling back premium numbers.
• Traffic pumping: artificial inflation of call volumes to earn termination fees.
• CLI spoofing: presenting a false caller ID to evade blocking or impersonate others.

Effective protection combines automated detection with sensible limits, applied on both sides of the interconnect.

• Traffic profiling that flags unusual destinations and patterns.
• Configurable spend caps and per-destination rules.
• Anomaly detection that triggers alerts before costs escalate.
• Rapid blocking and cooperation between carriers.

Fraud prevention works best when carriers and customers cooperate. Clear acceptable-use rules, prompt reporting and monitored traffic keep losses low and routes clean.