Does ITU fight International Premium Rate Numbers Fraud?

[Hamlet]

International phone numbers can be a way for telephone fraudsters to hide from regulation or prosecution.

I have found the following on the ITU website

Misuse of E.164 Numbering Resources

Member States and Sector Members are kindly asked to notify the TSB of situations that they are aware of that indicate potential misuse of numbering resources.

The reports and replies available on this website may be accessed by ITU TIES users only.

As far as I understand E.164 just means "international phone numbers"
see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.164#R...ained_in_E.164

Does anyone know more?
The links are not public.

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/inr/Pages/default.aspx


???
http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/inr/Pages/misuse.aspx

However, it has come to the attention of SG2 that in some cases the use of numbers allocated by the ITU may not be in accordance with those Recommendations and decisions flowing from them (in particular but without limitation E.190, E.164, E.164.1, E.164.2, E.164.3, E.168.1, E.168, E.169, E.169.2, E.169.1, E.169.3). For example, SG2 has been made aware that such resources are being used in rogue software that accesses the Internet via international numbers without the full knowledge of customers (so-called web diallers). As a consequence, dissatisfaction amongst Sector Members’ customers has increased and complaints have been sent to both operators and regulators.

This situation has been brought to the attention of ITU members by Circular 9.

The conclusion of the discussions at the 18-28 May 2004 SG2 meeting was to invite the Director of the TSB to set up a mechanism that would facilitate further investigation of reported possible misuse of numbering resources. Specifically, SG2 requested that the Director of TSB send a Circular, containing interim procedures regarding reporting of possible misuse of numbering resources, and publish a notice in the ITU Operational Bulletin (ref. 3.2.10 of the Report of the Study Group 2 Meeting, Geneva, 18 – 28 May 2004). In this context, “misuse” of numbering resources means that they are not being used in accordance with the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s). Alternatively, the use of the numbering resource may not be in accordance with the conditions laid down when the resource was assigned: for example, where assignment was made to fulfil a particular stated service application and in reality the resource is being used for a quite different application. In this respect, attention is drawn to 6.2.6 of ITU-T Recommendation E.190.

see here
http://www.itu.int/md/dologin_md.asp...IR-0009!!MSW-E

does that mean that ITU has installed procedures to handle with the misuse of international numbers?
Why are the content and the results of complaints not available for the public?
Why do national regulators [Germany, Switzerland, Austria] apparently not know of these procedures?

Questions nobody will ever ask.

[Hamlet]

There will be another ITU meeting next week
http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp...-GEN&PageLB=25

received 29/10/10
http://www.itu.int/md/T09-SG02-101109-TD-GEN-0220/en

[220-GEN] Report on activities related to misuse of numbering resources

No chance to read it. Not for the public. Freedom of information???

Let's try to find out what "misuse of numbering resources" means to ITU:

According to WTSA Resolution 20, “Procedures for allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources”, the assignment of international resources is a responsibility of the Director of TSB. The codes that are allocated by the Director of TSB should be used according to the purposes for which they have been allocated. In addition, WTSA-04 has instructed the Director of TSB, in close collaboration with Study Group 2, and any other relevant study groups, to follow up on the misuse of any numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources and inform the Council accordingly.

http://www.itu.int/md/dologin_md.asp...IR-0009!!MSW-E

The conclusion of the discussions at the 18-28 May 2004 SG2 meeting was to invite the Director of the TSB to set up a mechanism that would facilitate further investigation of reported possible misuse of numbering resources. Specifically, SG2 requested that the Director of TSB send a Circular, containing interim procedures regarding reporting of possible misuse of numbering resources, and publish a notice in the ITU Operational Bulletin (ref. 3.2.10 of the Report of the Study Group 2 Meeting, Geneva, 18 – 28 May 2004). In this context, “misuse” of numbering resources means that they are not being used in accordance with the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s). Alternatively, the use of the numbering resource may not be in accordance with the conditions laid down when the resource was assigned: for example, where assignment was made to fulfil a particular stated service application and in reality the resource is being used for a quite different application. In this respect, attention is drawn to 6.2.6 of ITU-T Recommendation E.190.

So ITU should have cared about ping scams, because scam cannot be "in accordance with the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s)"

But why is this not available to the public?
Why is the public not able to control if such things did happen?

Is it "in accordance with the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s)" to offer international numbers for billing purposes? Is phone sex via Sierra Leone "in accordance with the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s)"?

questions, questions, questions
Or do I misinterpret this stuff? It's English. I'm German.

Member States and Sector Members are asked to use the interim procedures in Annex 1 of this Circular to notify the TSB of situations that they are aware of that indicate possible misuse of numbering resources and to explain why they believe that a misuse is occurring, for example use of non-assigned resources, or incorrect routing of assigned resources, or use of resources for purposes other than those for which they were assigned.

Availability of reports and replies
All reports, and any replies, will be posted by the TSB on a web site protected by the TIES password.

hide in your shell?

[El Gringo]

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islan...ticle-full.tpl

PITA News/Telecommunications: PACIFIC TELEPHONE NUMBER FRAUD VICTIMS GET ITU SYMPATHY
The handful of Pacific islands countries that are frequent victims of a type of communications fraud loosely known as �telephone number hijacking� are breathing a sigh of relief.
[]
In the October meeting of the World Standardisation Assembly (WSTA) 2008, held in South Africa, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) adopted and approved measures designed to help them deal with this problem.
[]

the proposal as i read it

“Efforts to identify fraudulent operators have been futile due to commercial confidentialities within the international carriages.”
Christopher said the new ITU resolution will be an important regulatory tool in that it resolves to provide a mechanism to allow national regulators to request carriers to release routing information in cases of fraud.
As well, they will be obligated to collaborate and share information on fraudulent activities related to misuse of international numbering resources and to consider sharing information about these activities.

ITU are looking more like Icstis and Regtel

[Hamlet]

Any assistance to the bofat/ipfat efforts to push ITU into the spotlight, to publicly discuss ITU's role, would be welcome. But...
It's - to say it in German - als ob man einen Pudding an die Wand nageln wollte ("to nail a pudding to the wall")
ITU--> <--IPFAT

[Hamlet]

ITU is a bit... well...

Any ITU member (Member State or Sector Member) can formally report possible misuse of numbers using our web site, see ITU-T Recommendation E.156, available at:

http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.156-200605-I

The web site for reporting misuse is only available to ITU members, it is at:

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/secured/misuse/index.html

They will get their f***ing report from a member...
ITU sees what's going on, but remains blind.
ITU is for the birds, completely futile - When Jeffrey Robinson attecked ICSTIS as "full of crap" he didn't know about those ITU paper psuhers in Geneva.
Smoke on the water

[El Gringo]

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/finance/wor...Hoath-4-EN.PDF

Fraud Overview
TAF Regional Seminar on Costs and
Tariffs, 28-31 January 2008, Djibouti
Peter Hoath
peter.hoath@bt.com

“Standard” frauds – Premium Rate and Revenue Share

*Sometimes called Audiotext services.
*In country PRS/Revenue share services usually in a separate number range.
*High tariffs for the customer.
*The terminating number receives a share of the billed revenue, around 50% is typical.
*It gets very complex when interconnection between carriers is involved. Cooperaton is key.
*The fraudster’s goal is to inflate traffic to his PRS or Revenue Share numbers at little or no cost to himself.
-Therefore subscription fraud, fixed and mobile, will also be used to commit PRS fraud Some PRS operators have engaged with international telcos to provide this type of service.
*We have seen hijacking of whole number ranges by unscrupulous Revenue Share operators.
*Sometimes these calls have been short-stopped and terminated in a different country.

Dialler fraud in the UK (2004) was successful because all the players involved 'cooperated'

UK Government(DTI) - Ofcom - BT - Icstis - Telecom One/Majorcan Service Providers.

who are the players in the International Premium Rate fraud chains? where does the ITU sit?

[Hamlet]

Telecom One did not have the numbers, as far as I know. They (Redfern) got them from Mr Wilson and Mr Folliet,as far as I know.

See the following German article from 1994 (!)

http://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/te...id_149961.html

Googletranslation:
"The telephone fee con"

http://translate.google.de/translate...1.html&act=url


"Voice Information Systems Limited (VISL), based in Hong Kong with a German sales office makes five million minutes per month. Focus: Phonesex in Hongkong and the D.R.
VISL-CEO Andrew Wilson ..."

(by the way... Who is

Audiotext Telecommunications Limited (ATL) in London

?)

Telecom 1, originally from Hong Kong, was a partner of Mr Wilson - from the beginning.

The OPTUS/VISL/MEDIATEL/GILSAN case showed the way the pie was shared:

Of the $US100 million made between December 1998 and May 2001, Gilsan took $US30 million, Telecom Vanuatu took $US2 million, AT&T took $54 million and Optus took between $US6 and $US14 million.
"AT&T" here stands for "Concert" - at that time a joint venture of AT&T and... BT...

So BT in the UK (in a cause of fraud) takes money from the UK victims and more than half of it ended up in BT's (concert's) pocket.
If you divide Concert 50:50 between BT and AT&T you still have 27% for BT (and 27-41% for AT&T)
(I don't know if the $US 100 million did include the part of the fees that the national carriers got so maybe you have to add a bit to the BT share)

Telecom Vanuatu got 2% - if OPTUS did not steal the money

The terminating number receives a share of the billed revenue, around 50% is typical.

Originally Posted by BT

Really? I doubt!

Keyzones for example pays out ~10cts/Minute for "Sierra Leone"

In 2004 Keyzone turned over 700'000Euro in VAS traffic over African numbering codes.
In 2009 Keyzone will turn over close to 22mio Euro in VAS traffic and has become a leader in the business.

Originally Posted by Keyzone CEO

In Germany I pay 99cts/Min for Sierra Leone. 10cts for the fraudster, 89cts for the rest of the gang.
How much of the 99cts make the 22 Mio Euro of Keyzone? And how many cents go to BT and others? And how many Keyzones do we have? And how many millions are made by fraudsters?

*We have seen hijacking of whole number ranges by unscrupulous Revenue Share operators.
*Sometimes these calls have been short-stopped and terminated in a different country.

Originally Posted by Peter Hoath

We KNOW the "Revenue Share Operators" and we KNOW the short stoppers - and Mr Peter Hoath also should KNOW them.
And we KNOW why the system worked and why it still works.
And ITU?
Incredible that nobody tried to break the wall of silence.

[Hamlet]

Peter Hoath?
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search?author=Hoath+P

PBX Fraud, the Final Solution -- Detection, Deterrent, Countermeasures

Authors: Mulhall T.; Hoath P.

Source: Computers and Security, Volume 16, Number 6, 1997 , pp. 521-521(1)

What's New in Telecoms Fraud?

Author: Hoath P.

Source: Computer Fraud & Security, Volume 1999, Number 2, February 1999 , pp. 13-19(7)

who is Peter Hoath???

[Hamlet]

UK’s Business First Magazine Phreaked During Summer Break August 2010
Illegal calls were made from Business First Magazine’s PBX to North Korea, and as a result of this criminal
attack the company has been forced to change their business phone number. Business First Magazine’s
telco did not have a policy of informing customers of unusual call patterns (as many do), so the magazine
has changed teleco providers. The phone bill was several times its usual amount.

Phone Fraud Criminals Hacking NZ Firms (also here) 19 Aug 2010
About 40 NZ companies a month are being hacked by international criminals, up to $50,000 a time for some. [...]
Hacked businesses are liable for the charges because local telco providers have to pay the international telcos where the calls have been placed, and do not want to be out of pocket themselves.

This hacking helps to fund Australian organized crime and is
estimated at costing Australian companies up to AU$78,000 a day. Telstra says they refer cases to the police, but customers are responsible for their own security and bills.

US Department of Homeland Security Subject of PBX Hacking 20 Aug 2008
FEMA (part of the US Department of Homeland Security) was defrauded by just one hacker for US$12,000 through their PBX, with illegal calls being made to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, among others.
The hacker made over 400 calls.

Telephone Hack Costs NSW Firm AU$9,000 17 Oct 2006
A small Sydney business was phreaked for AU$9,000 – eight times more than their usual phone bill, very damaging to a small business. Illegal calls were made to the Arab Emirates, Somalia and other countries in Africa and South America.

http://www.thesupplygroup.co.uk/dms/...ised-crime.pdf

STOP INTERNATIONAL PREMIUM RATES NUMBERS NOW