Anti-Fraud Training Series

Module 1: Enterprise Messaging & Voice Fraud Landscape

Based on 15+ years of fraud prevention experience in CPaaS, carrier networks, and P2P platforms

📚 Want the Complete Fraud Prevention Guide?

This training covers enterprise fraud. For comprehensive protection covering Business Email Compromise, Investment Fraud, Cryptocurrency Scams, Romance Fraud, and more — get the complete $16.6 Billion Fraud Crisis Guide.

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💬 Enterprise Messaging Fraud

SMS Pumping

Critical Risk

Fraudsters exploit OTP flows to generate artificial SMS traffic, inflating costs for businesses.

How It Works

  1. Attackers identify web forms or APIs that send SMS verification codes
  2. Automated bots submit thousands of requests with premium-rate numbers
  3. Revenue is shared between fraudster and complicit mobile operator
  4. Victim business pays inflated SMS delivery costs

Who's Targeted

Small Businesses

Websites with unprotected signup forms

Enterprises

APIs with inadequate tier controls

Individuals

Not typically targeted directly

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Implement CAPTCHA on all SMS-triggering forms
  • •Set strict rate limits
  • •Use geographic restrictions

Enterprises

  • •Deploy ML-assisted anomaly detection
  • •Implement tiered controls
  • •Real-time cost monitoring with circuit breakers

Individuals

  • •Report suspicious requests to providers

Detection Signals

  • ⚠Sudden 10x+ increase in SMS volume
  • ⚠Traffic from newly created accounts

Real World Impact

Can cost businesses $50K-$500K+ in a single weekend attack.

SMS Phishing (Smishing)

High Risk

Fraudulent SMS messages impersonating legitimate organizations to steal credentials.

How It Works

  1. Attacker spoofs sender ID to appear as trusted brand
  2. Message contains urgent call-to-action with malicious link
  3. Victim clicks link to fake website
  4. Credentials or payment info harvested

Who's Targeted

Small Businesses

Brand impersonation risk

Enterprises

Large customer bases targeted

Individuals

Primary victims

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Register brand with carriers
  • •Use consistent sender IDs

Enterprises

  • •Deploy brand protection monitoring
  • •Register with verified sender programs

Individuals

  • •Verify sender before clicking links
  • •Enable MFA on all accounts

Real World Impact

FBI reported $54M in losses from smishing in 2023.

Account Takeover (ATO)

Critical Risk

Unauthorized access to messaging platform accounts to send spam or conduct fraud.

How It Works

  1. Credentials obtained via phishing or data breaches
  2. Attacker logs into legitimate account
  3. Account used to send spam/scams
  4. Account resources exploited for fraud

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Require strong passwords
  • •Enable two-factor authentication

Enterprises

  • •Mandate MFA for all accounts
  • •Implement IP allowlisting

Individuals

  • •Use password managers
  • •Enable 2FA everywhere

Real World Impact

Can result in complete platform compromise and significant financial losses.

Grey Route Exploitation

High Risk

Use of unauthorized routes to deliver messages, degrading quality and enabling fraud.

How It Works

  1. Messages routed through unofficial carrier agreements
  2. Lower costs but reduced delivery rates
  3. Can enable spoofing and bypass fraud controls

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Vet messaging providers
  • •Monitor delivery rates

Enterprises

  • •Establish direct carrier relationships
  • •Implement quality monitoring

Individuals

  • •Report delivery failures

Real World Impact

Carriers lose billions annually. Businesses face poor delivery rates (60-80% vs 95%+).

📞 Enterprise Voice Fraud

Toll Fraud / IRSF

Critical Risk

Attackers make fraudulent calls to premium-rate numbers, generating shared revenue.

How It Works

  1. Attacker gains access to PBX system or CPaaS account
  2. Automated calls placed to premium-rate numbers
  3. Long call durations maximize revenue
  4. Revenue split between fraudster and premium number owner

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Disable international calling unless necessary
  • •Set spending limits and alerts

Enterprises

  • •Implement geographic restrictions
  • •Deploy real-time spend monitoring

Individuals

  • •Monitor phone bills for unexpected charges

Real World Impact

Global losses exceed $10 billion annually. Single incidents can cost businesses $50K-$500K in hours.

Vishing (Voice Phishing)

High Risk

Social engineering attacks via phone calls to steal sensitive information.

How It Works

  1. Attacker spoofs caller ID
  2. Impersonates bank, government, tech support
  3. Creates urgency or fear
  4. Obtains credentials or payment info

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Train staff to recognize vishing tactics

Enterprises

  • •Comprehensive security awareness training
  • •Implement callback procedures

Individuals

  • •Never provide sensitive info to unsolicited callers

Real World Impact

FBI reported $3.5+ billion in losses from phone scams in 2023.

CLI Spoofing (Caller ID Spoofing)

High Risk

Falsifying caller ID information to appear as a trusted entity.

How It Works

  1. Attacker manipulates calling line identification
  2. Call appears to come from trusted source
  3. Victim trusts caller based on displayed number
  4. Used in conjunction with vishing

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Use STIR/SHAKEN compliant carriers

Enterprises

  • •Implement STIR/SHAKEN across all voice services

Individuals

  • •Don't rely on caller ID for authentication

Real World Impact

Enables nearly all voice-based fraud. Used in 90%+ of vishing attacks.

Wangiri Fraud (One Ring Scam)

Medium Risk

Fraudsters place brief calls to trigger callbacks to premium-rate numbers.

How It Works

  1. Robocaller dials thousands of numbers
  2. Hangs up after one ring
  3. Victim sees missed call and calls back
  4. Callback reaches premium-rate number

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Educate staff not to call back unknown international numbers

Enterprises

  • •Disable auto-callback features

Individuals

  • •Don't call back unfamiliar international numbers

Real World Impact

Affects millions globally. Individual losses typically $10-$100.

💸 Person-to-Person (P2P) Fraud

Payment App Scams

Critical Risk

Fraudulent activity exploiting P2P payment platforms like Venmo, Zelle, Cash App.

How It Works

  1. Attacker poses as seller, buyer, or service provider
  2. Victim sends payment for non-existent goods
  3. Or: attacker gains account access and transfers funds
  4. Or: "accidental payment" scam requesting refund

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Use business accounts with fraud protections

Enterprises

  • •Implement transaction monitoring and velocity limits

Individuals

  • •Only send money to known, trusted contacts

Real World Impact

P2P payment fraud exceeded $1 billion in 2023.

Romance Scams

High Risk

Long-term confidence scams where fraudster builds emotional relationship to extract money.

How It Works

  1. Attacker creates fake profile on dating/social platform
  2. Builds romantic relationship over weeks/months
  3. Eventually requests money for "emergency"
  4. Cycle repeats; victim emotionally invested

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Not primary concern unless operating social platform

Enterprises

  • •If operating social/dating platform: AI-based fake profile detection

Individuals

  • •Never send money to someone you haven't met in person

Real World Impact

FBI reported $1.3+ billion in losses from romance scams in 2023. Average loss: $15,000.

Money Mule Schemes

High Risk

Victims unknowingly help launder money by receiving and forwarding funds from illegal activity.

How It Works

  1. Fraudster recruits victim via job ad or romance scam
  2. Victim receives funds in their account
  3. Instructed to forward funds to another party
  4. Funds are from fraud, theft, or illegal activity
  5. Victim faces legal consequences

Protection Strategies

Small Businesses

  • •Educate staff about money mule recruitment tactics

Enterprises

  • •Employee training on financial scams

Individuals

  • •Beware "too good to be true" job offers
  • •Never allow others to use your bank account

Real World Impact

Money mules move billions in illicit funds annually. Participants face potential prosecution.

Next Steps & Implementation

This training module covers the fundamental fraud types across enterprise messaging, voice, and P2P landscapes. To implement a comprehensive fraud prevention program:

  • 1.Assess Your Risk Surface: Identify which fraud types pose the greatest threat to your specific use case
  • 2.Prioritize Controls: Implement protections for Critical and High severity threats first
  • 3.Deploy Detection: Set up monitoring for the detection signals outlined above
  • 4.Establish Response: Create incident response playbooks for each fraud type
  • 5.Train Your Team: Ensure all stakeholders understand their role in fraud prevention

📚 Want Comprehensive Protection Beyond Enterprise Fraud?

This module focused on enterprise messaging, voice, and P2P fraud. For complete protection covering:

  • •Business Email Compromise (BEC) - The $2.9B threat to businesses of all sizes
  • •Investment Fraud - Cryptocurrency scams, Ponzi schemes, and more ($6.6B annually)
  • •Romance-Based Investment Fraud - "Pig butchering" scams ($4.3B annually)
  • •Protection for Families & Seniors - Safeguard your loved ones
  • •Recovery Strategies - What to do if you've been victimized

Get the complete "$16.6 Billion Fraud Crisis Guide" with 95,000+ words, 12 detailed chapters, actionable checklists, and step-by-step protection strategies.

Learn More About The Complete Guide →

About the Author: Benjamin Ian Wilson has 15+ years of experience protecting large-scale platforms from ecosystem abuse across CPaaS APIs, carrier networks, and messaging/voice systems. He has led fraud operations at Vonage, Sinch, and SAP Digital Interconnect, developing and implementing the strategies outlined in this training.

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