Fraud Detection

The VoIP industry is rife with fraud and there are frequent stories of a PBX getting hacked and thus costing the business owner hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Much like identity theft, it would be near impossible to detect or prevent all fraud, but VoIP Innovations has created a system that will alert you when traffic patterns are outside the normal behavior you are used to. Once you have been alerted, you are equipped with the information you need to make any necessary adjustments on the network you control to mitigate the negative consequences of a breach. Furthermore, this feature is a value-added tool that gives you data with which to effectively manage your business. Are you curious which states or countries are called most often? Do you know which IP address has the most termination minutes on your account? The widgets we have created will give you this exact information in snapshot form and can be an invaluable tool for you in managing your VoIP business.

This article describes how the system works as well as guides you in setting up your account to take advantage of this very helpful feature. By default, Fraud detection is not enabled on accounts; however, each VoIP Innovations' customer is eligible for a free one-month trial (up to 5,000 minutes worth of CDRs) of the service. After your free trial, you will need to sign up for one of our packages which are based on minutes of CDRs running through the system. The packages are as follows:
Up to 50,000 Minutes at $50/month
Up to 250,000 Minutes at $100/month
Up to 500,000 Minutes at $150/month
Overage: $0.0005/minute (for example, if 51,000 minutes are used on first package, overage charge would be $.50)
{}If you no longer wish to have this service on your account, you will need to log into the* portal and opt out after your free trial or you will be charged the minimum package.*

The benefits that you get from the feature come in the form of widgets and alerts. Widgets can be viewed from the system dashboard once you have enabled your free trial. The following widgets can be configured, and each provides a quick snapshot of usage for the respective category.

Minutes By Country
Minutes Per Endpoint
Minutes Per Jurisdiction
Minutes Per Source IP
Minutes Per State
Top IP Addresses
Minutes Per Customer

Alerts can be configured and can be either email, SMS, or both. There are three levels of alerts (for most notifications): Notify, Warning, and Urgent. The default percentages for these are 25%, 50%, and 100% meaning you will get an email with the subject: FYI - Usage High for INTERSTATE if your interstate minutes exceed 25% for what would be considered normal for that time, an email with the subject: Warning - Usage High for INTRASTATE if the usage for intrastate calling exceeded 50% normal usage for that specific time, and so on. Keep in mind that when you first enable the service, our system will populate the previous week's CDRs into the system and draw from that data for which to compare to. You will likely see frequent alerts when you begin using the service. You will need to adjust your settings to determine what works best for you; the longer you use the service the more historical data there will be and therefore the more useful the data and alerts become. You can also change the percentages and minimum minutes that trigger the alerts to your desired specifications giving you, even more, control. One of the great things about this feature is that it is not just tracking CDRs–it is gathering information and analyzing it. This means you would get an alert stating, "Interstate calling is higher than normal for a Thursday at this time". It isn't just letting you know you have high domestic call volume, but specifically compared to what is normal for your calling patterns based on the time of the traffic.

There is also a Customer/IP Management Console within the system that both allows you to import VoIP Innovations' Clients and/or create your own customer identification criteria. If you aren't familiar with VoIP Innovations' Client Feature click here. Any time you create a new Client, you will have the option to import that client into the Fraud Detection/Traffic Analysis System. Note that you must enter an IP address before you can associate any

Customer/Client information to that IP. You can associate IPs to Customer/Clients within the edit window of the Customer/IP Management console in the Back Office.

As previously mentioned, you can configure SMS or email alerts or both. Example screenshots of the types of emails you will receive are pictured below in this article. The alerts will contain links that will take you to a web page wherein you can see graphs of the specific alert. The web page also allows you to turn off the alerts for the rest of the day, change your percentage thresholds, and change the minimum minutes necessary to begin sending the alerts. Furthermore, you can export the data to a CSV file if you wish. Keep in mind that the Minutes by Jurisdiction has the potential to give you four distinct alerts:
Interstate Minutes
Intrastate Minutes
International Minutes
Toll-Free Minutes
Some customers may only want to receive alerts if international calling is beyond the norm so we have made allowances to only receive international alerts. Our recommendation is to use all alerts but if you wish to receive only international alerts, you can choose this option from the email or SMS link (screenshot is below in this article). Moreover, you can opt out of any jurisdictional alert you choose. Only want intrastate alerts? No problem. This feature allows you to get only the alerts you want to receive.

For many, international calling can be the bane of existence, so we have taken our detection to the next level to further ensure peaceful nights. As anyone who has dealt with international calling fraud will tell you, discovering the matter after the fact can be very painful (and costly). Our system not only tracks international calling patterns for completed calls but also looks for failed international attempts. Enabling the International Failed Attempts to feature within our Fraud Detection System gives you one more way to combat fraudulent activity rom negatively impacting your business.

Some may be wondering what happens when a new IP address is added to an account. Will the system know to monitor this IP? Will I receive an alert? The answer is YES! The only thing to remember in this case is that you MUST configure the system to alert you any time an IP address that did not previously have traffic begins doing so. In the event this occurs, you will only receive ONE notification letting you know that IP is running traffic. You can configure this courtesy notification from Add-Ons->Fraud Detection->Alerts->First Time Traffic Alert. The same rules apply for this alert as the others regarding the configuration; you must first add the email and SMS contacts and ensure you have the checkbox marked to begin receiving alerts.

Please note that the Add-Ons Tab WILL REQUIRE user permissions just like the other tabs for Back Office users. If you do not see the Add-Ons Tab on your account, contact the Main Administrator to grant you permission. At the time of this release of this feature, any user with access to the Billing Tab automatically has access to the Add-Ons tab.

Now that you have read the preceding information and understand the value this feature provides, it's time to start your FREE trial! To do so, select the 'Add-Ons' tab and then select 'Fraud Detection'

Next, choose your desired Time Zone and if you want the system to adhere to Daylight Savings Time and click 'Start Free Trial'

After enabling the FREE Trial, you can begin configuring alerts, viewing widgets, and adding IPs Remember that once you enable the FREE trial, the system imports your previous seven days' worth of CDRs for which to compare data for the alerts and widgets. *It will take several days for the data to even out so be aware of this.

Our recommendation is to be notified any time an IP with no historical usage beings sending traffic. Select the Add-Ons Tab and select Fraud Detection -> Alerts -> First Time Traffic Alert from the drop-down menu.

*Add your desired contacts, ensure you have the proper box checked and remember to save your alert! ****

Remember that any time you create a new VI Client, you can import that Client into the Fraud Detection System or you can manually add IPs and Customers from the Customer/IPs section.

The following are examples of what you can expect from the Widgets which can be added from Add-Ons -> Fraud Detection -> Dashboard. You can sort specific widgets as you like and Export the data as well.

Each Specific Alert from the previously referenced menu has its own configuration page. For jurisdictional alerts, you can receive all or some depending on your preferences. Remember that you must first add a contact to the list. Also, don't forget to check the 'SMS' box if you want text messages. Finally, click the 'Save Alert' button any time you make a change!

Note that the Jurisdictional Minutes Alert can trigger FOUR distinct alerts. Not only can you view graphs pertaining to your minutes, but you can also change the settings for minimum minutes or percentages used to trigger the alert or suspend them altogether– directly from the link contained in the message. Remember to click 'Update' to ensure any desired changes take effect!