June 2015

Thinking Outside the Comms Box: A New, Cross Industry Fraud Check Service that Telecoms can Leverage

interview with Jim Rice

For decades, the data used by telecoms to do fraud checks and verify identities has been limited to data internal to the comms industry.

But if fraudsters are free to roam across banking, retail, and telecom — to steal an identity from credit cards to commit e-commerce fraud, and then lease iPhones for 15 fictitious employees — does it really make sense to limit your fraud checks to communications industry data alone?

LexisNexis thinks telecoms — and firms in other industries — can greatly improve their fraud scoring by sharing their siloed data with each other. To that point, late last year the company announced its Fraud Defense Network, a new initiative that links organizations across many industries with resources, data and intelligence to predict, detect and mitigate fraud. The vision is to unite organizations from finance, retail, telecom, insurance, government, law enforcement and health care, and most of these industries are already participating.

Here to explain this innovative new tool for subscription and other fraud prevention is Jim Rice, Director of Market Planning for the Communications Market with LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

	Dan Baker: Jim, to begin, could you give us a overview of LexisNexis and what you do for the telecom industry.

Jim Rice: Sure, Dan. We have the world’s largest database of public record and proprietary information, and what’s unique to LexisNexis is we can resolve all that down to specific identities. These are addresses, phone numbers, and those sorts of things. Then we layer on top analytics on relationships to other individuals.

So our analytical experts define particular credit risk scenarios. One credit-risk scenario looks at individuals who frequently move. Another looks at people who live in high-crime rate areas. Hundreds of factors like these are used to determine if there’s a risk associated with a particular individual. And the data can be used in various applications.

For the communications industry specifically, we offer solutions that go across the account life cycle: from customer acquisition to upgrade/retention and collections. We also help verify if the actual person you are dealing with is who they say they are.

	So it seems your service is much like what a credit bureau provides.

Certainly one of the key services we offer is credit risk decisioning — to help score the creditworthiness of individuals who wouldn’t necessarily get a credit bureau score. However, we don’t consider ourselves a credit bureau per se. Actually our service is vital for analyzing many diverse fraud issues and risks.

For instance, there are many potential communications customers that don’t have a credit bureau score. That would include students and people coming into the market for the first time, and in many cases, the elderly population stop taking credit because they don’t necessarily need it and they start falling off of the credit bureau score model.

Also you have new people coming to the country, they will have a footprint in public record information, but they won’t necessarily have a footprint in the credit bureaus quite yet, so our data becomes a valuable alternative source of creditworthiness data.

	Now you’ve introduced a new cross-industry fraud service. What’s the reason you’ve launched this?

Dan, fraudsters committing subscription and related frauds are not constrained by any particular industry — they will move anywhere necessary to seize opportunities.

So while a fraudster’s activities roam across multiple industries, because fraud detection systems and fraud data tend to be kept to a particular company or industry, our customers lack a holistic view of how fraud is happening across industries, so they are missing out on some valuable fraud intelligence.

There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that cross-industry fraud is significant. And getting intelligence on that is very valuable for comms providers.

For instance, in one case a particular crime ring was recently indicted in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. They had been involved a mobile device theft scenario and were indicted by the FBI. Now, when we looked at a sample from our cross-industry fraud data, we identified 8 indicted members of that crime family.

So if the communications company defrauded by this crime ring had been utilizing the LexisNexis cross-industry fraud analysis, they would have identified those members of the crime families ahead of time.

These criminals were doing credit muling — going into stores with false credentials to get smart phones for resale.

	I understand LexisNexis conducted a study to determine the potential impact of using cross-industry data to improve fraud scoring in the comms industry.

Yes, Dan. What we did was pull together a sample of 420,000 communications industry transactions. Now by “transactions”, I mean interchanges between either a comms provider and an individual, or a comms provider with LexisNexis. These transactions include things such as: purchase transactions; identity verification checks; and fraud checks.

Inside that 420K sample was a performance sample of 3,053 known fraudulent transactions. So the first thing we did was compare that performance set to a sample of fraudulent and other suspicious transactions across industries including known frauds from the financial industry. The result: we discovered 116 financial industry matches to those 3,053 fraudulent transactions in communications.

Second, from that same 420K comms sample set, we took the 416,947 transactions that were non-suspicious, and bounced them off the cross industry fraudulent and suspicious transactions set too. That comparison revealed 5,205 transactions that had some suspicious activity, meaning there are additional transactions within the non-suspicious data that may warrant greater due diligence.

Finally we took a larger 808K comms industry transaction set. Applying our proven Communications fraud model to that, we identified 47,515 suspicious transactions. Then, we applied cross industry fraud data using the Communications fraud score model. When we did that we found 4,607 of the already flagged suspicious transactions were in the cross industry data as well.

That analysis also tagged another 12,885 transactions that were suspicious within the previous “non-suspicious” set of transactions. This is clear statistical proof that the cross-industry fraud data improves the predictive ability of fraud modeling/analytics.

	Jim, this is important news for telecoms. Sound like this idea of cross-industry fraud checks is an idea whose time has come.

Jim Rice

Jim Rice is currently Director of Market Planning for the Communications Market with LexisNexis Risk Solutions. His responsibilities include strategy development, product direction and market assessment to address Communication Customer needs.

Jim has over 20 years of experience in the information solutions industry. In addition to the Communications industry, Jim has worked in the eCommerce, Retail, Tax, Accounting, Legal, Educational and Knowledge Management industries to bring to market effective data based solutions that facilitate business decision processes. Jim has held key market and product positions in such companies as CCH, Inc. and Thomson Publishing as well as LexisNexis.

Jim holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College of Law as well as undergraduate degrees from Miami University. Contact Jim via

Black Swan Solution Guides & Papers

Expanding the Scope of Revenue Assurance Beyond Switch-to-Bill’s Vision — Araxxe — How Araxxe’s end-to-end revenue assurance complements switch-to-bill RA through telescope RA (external and partner data) and microscope RA (high-definition analysis of complex services like bundling and digital services).
Lanck Telecom FMS: Voice Fraud Management as a Network Service on Demand — Lanck Telecom — A Guide to a new and unique on-demand network service enabling fraud-risky international voice traffic to be monitored (and either alerted or blocked) as that traffic is routed through a wholesaler on its way to its final destinations.
SHAKEN / STIR Calling Number Verification & Fraud Alerting — iconectiv — SHAKEN/STIR is the telecom industry’s first step toward reviving trust in business telephony — and has recently launched in the U.S. market. This Solution Guide features commentary from technology leaders at iconetiv, a firm heavily involved in the development of SHAKEN.
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The Value of an Authoritative Database of Global Telephone Numbers — iconectiv — Learn about an authoritative database of allocated numbers and special number ranges in every country of the world. The expert explains how this database adds value to any FMS or fraud analyst team.
The IPRN Database and its Use in IRSF & Wangiri Fraud Control — Yates Fraud Consulting — The IPRN Database is a powerful new tool for helping control IRSF and Wangiri frauds. The pioneer of the category explains the value and use of the IPRN Database in this 14-page Black Swan Solution Guide.
A Real-Time Cloud Service to Protect the Enterprise PBX from IRSF Fraud — Oculeus — Learn how a new cloud-based solution developed by Oculeus, any enterprise can protect its PBX from IRSF fraud for as little as $5 a month.
How Regulators can Lead the Fight Against International Bypass Fraud — LATRO Services — As a regulator in a country infected by SIM box fraud, what can you do to improve the situation? A white paper explains the steps you can and should you take — at the national government level — to better protect your country’s tax revenue, quality of communications, and national infrastructure.
Telecom Identity Fraud 2020: A 36-Expert Analysis Report from TRI — TRI — TRI releases a new research report on telecom identity fraud and security. Black Swan readers can download a free Executive Summary of the Report.
The 2021 State of Communications-Related Fraud, Identity Theft & Consumer Protection in the USA — iconectiv — This 49-page free Report on communications-related fraud analyzes the FTC’s annual Sentinel consumer fraud statistics and provides a sweeping view of trends and problem areas. It also gives a cross-industry view of the practices and systems that enable fraud control, identity verification, and security in our “zero trust” digital world.

cSwans of a Feather

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Nine Simple Strategies for Protecting an Operator or MVNO from Telecom Fraud — interview with Jim Bolzenius — An expert in telecom fraud management explains essential strategies for aiming a carrier’s or MVNO’s fraud prevention program in the right direction.
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Virtual Operator Life: Enabling Multi-Level Resellers Through an Active Product Catalog — interview with Rob Hill — The value of product distribution via virtual operators is immense. They enable a carrier to sell to markets it cannot profitably serve directly. Yet the need for greater reseller flexibility in the bundling and pricing of increasingly complex IP and cloud services is now a major channel barrier. This article explains what’s behind an innovative product catalog solution that doubles as a service creation environment for resellers in multiple tiers.
Telecom Blocking & Tackling: Executing the Fundamentals of the Order-to-Bill Process — interview with Ron Angner — Just as football teams need to be good at the basics of blocking and tackling, telecoms need to excel at their own fundamental skillset: the order-to-cash process. In this article, a leading consulting firm explains its methodology for taking operators on the path towards order-to-cash excellence. Issues discussed include: provisioning intervals; standardization and simplicity; the transition from legacy to improved process; and the major role that industry metrics play.
Wireline Act IV, Scene II: Packaging Network & SaaS Services Together to Serve SMBs — by John Frame — As revenue from telephony services has steadily declined, fixed network operators have scrambled to support VoIP, enhanced IP services, and now cloud applications. This shift has also brought challenges to the provisioning software vendors who support the operators. In this interview, a leading supplier explains how it’s transforming from plain ol‘ OSS software provider to packager of on-net and SaaS solutions from an array of third party cloud providers.
Telecom Merger Juggling Act: How to Convert the Back Office and Keep Customers and Investors Happy at the Same Time — interview with Curtis Mills — Billing and OSS conversions as the result of a merger are a risky activity as evidenced by famous cases at Fairpoint and Hawaiian Telcom. This article offers advice on how to head off problems by monitoring key operations checkpoints, asking the right questions, and leading with a proven conversion methodology.
Is Order Management a Provisioning System or Your Best Salesperson? — by John Konczal — Order management as a differentiator is a very new concept to many CSP people, but it’s become a very real sales booster in many industries. Using electronics retailer BestBuy as an example, the article points to several innovations that can — and are — being applied by CSPs today. The article concludes with 8 key questions an operator should ask to measure advanced order management progress.
NEC Takes the Telecom Cloud from PowerPoint to Live Customers — interview with Shinya Kukita — In the cloud computing world, it’s a long road from technology success to telecom busness opportunity. But this story about how NEC and Telefonica are partnering to offer cloud services to small and medium enterprises shows the experience of early cloud adoption. Issues discussed in the article include: customer types, cloud application varieties, geographic region acceptance, and selling challenges.
Billing As Enabler for the Next Killer Business Model — interview with Scott Swartz — Facebook, cloud services, and Google Ads are examples of innovative business models that demand unique or non-standard billing techniques. The article shows how flexible, change-on-the-fly, and metadata-driven billing architectures are enabling CSPs to offer truly ground breaking services.
Real-Time Provisioning of SIM Cards: A Boon to GSM Operators — interview with Simo Isomaki — Software-controlled SIM card configuration is revolutionizing the activation of GSM phones. The article explains how dynamic SIM management decouples the selection of numbers/services and delivers new opportunities to market during the customer acquisition and intial provisoining phase.
A Cynic Converted: IN/Prepaid Platforms Are Now Pretty Cool — interview with Grant Lenahan — Service delivery platforms born in the IN era are often painted as inflexible and expensive to maintain. Learn how modern SDPs with protocol mediation, high availability, and flexible Service Creation Environments are delivering value for operators such as Brazil’s Oi.
Achieving Revenue Maximization in the Telecom Contact Center — interview with Robert Lamb — Optimizing the contact center offers one of the greatest returns on investment for a CSP. The director of AT&T’s contact center services business explains how telecoms can strike an “artful balance” between contact center investment and cost savings. The discussion draws from AT&T’s consulting with world class customers like Ford, Dell, Discover Financial, DISH Network, and General Motors.
Mobile Broadband: The Customer Service Assurance Challenge — interview with Michele Campriani — iPhone and Android traffic is surging but operators struggle with network congestion and dropping ARPUs. The answer? Direct resources and service quality measures to ensure VIPs are indeed getting the quality they expect. Using real-life examples that cut to the chase of technical complexities, this article explains the chief causes of service quality degradation and describes efficient ways to deal with the problem.
Telco-in-a-Box: Are Telecoms Back in the B/OSS Business? — interview with Jim Dunlap — Most telecoms have long since folded their merchant B/OSS software/services businesses. But now Cycle30, a subsidiary of Alaskan operator GCI, is offering a order-to-cash managed service for other operators and utilities. The article discusses the company’s unique business model and contrasts it with billing service bureau and licensed software approaches.
Bricks, Mortar & Well-Trained Reps Make a Comeback in Customer Management — interview with Scott Kohlman — Greater industry competition, service complexity, and employee turnover have raised the bar in the customer support. Indeed, complex services are putting an emphasis on quality care interactions in the store, on the web, and through the call center. In this article you’ll learn about innovations in CRM, multi-tabbed agent portals, call center agent training, customer treatment philosophies, and the impact of self-service.
21st Century Order Management: The Cross-Channel Sales Conversation — by John Konczal — Selling a mobile service is generally not a one-and-done transaction. It often involves several interactions — across the web, call center, store, and even kiosks. This article explains the power of a “cross-channel hub” which sits above all sales channels, interacts with them all, and allows a CSP to keep the sales conversation moving forward seamlessly.
Building a B/OSS Business Through Common Sense Customer Service — by David West — Delivering customer service excellence doesn‘t require mastering some secret technique. The premise of this article is that plain dealing with customers and employees is all that’s needed for a winning formula. The argument is spelling out in a simple 4 step methodology along with some practical examples.

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