Telephone fraud detection and prevention

Details Telephone fraud detection and prevention Telephone fraud detection and prevention

1999-12-09

2002-07-09

Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2642)

Telephonic communications

Call or terminal access alarm or control

Fraud or improper use mitigating or indication

C379S191000, C379S196000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06418212

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to a telecommunication system and more particularly to a method and system for detecting and preventing a fraudulent telephone call based on call record data.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a telecommunication dependent society, fraudulent telephone calls have increased to the levels where they are a problem to both telephone service providers and legitimate customers. Fraudulent telephone call activities include calling card fraud, Private Branch Exchange (PBX) fraud, fraudulent call forwarding, looping, hacking, etc. Fraudulent telephone calls often entail the unauthorized use of telephone billing numbers such as originating telephone numbers, calling card numbers and credit card numbers, which are associated with customer billing accounts for legitimate customers. If the telephone service provider charges fraudulent calls to a legitimate customer, the customer often complains about the bill.
Telephone service providers generally absorb the costs for these fraudulent calls in order to maintain good relationships with their customers. As such, telephone service providers have attempted to receive and prevent such fraudulent calls. In conventional systems, fraudulent calls have been identified by manually monitoring call record data to detect fraudulent calling patterns. The call record data may include an originating telephone number, a terminating telephone number, a billed number, the time of each call, etc. The conventional method of manually monitoring the call record data for detecting and preventing fraudulent calls is labor intensive, costly and time-consuming. In addition, fraudulent calling patterns can generally only be identified a substantial time after the occurrence of fraudulent calls in a conventional method and system for detecting fraudulent calls.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and system for automatically detecting and preventing a fraudulent telephone call through the review of telephone call record data. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for detecting and preventing call looping. In order to detect and prevent the call looping, the present invention detects potential fraudulent telephone call patterns by comparing the terminating telephone number of a first call with the originating telephone number of a second call.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for a real time detection and prevention of fraudulent telephone calls. According to the present invention, the terminating telephone number of a first call is compared with the originating telephone number of a second call which is originated within the predetermined time period from the first call. Generally, the second call is originated substantially at the same time as the termination of the first call.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method for detecting and preventing a fraudulent telephone call in a telecommunication system is provided. First, the terminating number of a first call and the originating number of a second call are received from a telecommunication network. The terminating number of the first call is compared with the originating numbers of the second calls, which are originated within a predetermined time period from the first call. After comparison, it is determined whether the first and the second calls correspond to a fraudulent telephone call looping to circumvent blocks set forth by the exchange carriers.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a security system for detecting and preventing a fraudulent telephone call is provided. The security system receives the terminating number of a first call and stores it in a storage element. The security system includes a timer which calculates a predetermined time period from the first call. The security system also receives the originating number of a second call which is originated within the predetermined time period set forth by the timer. The security system compares the terminating number of the first call with the originating number of the second call to determine whether or not the first and the second calls correspond to a fraudulent call pattern.
The present invention can be applied to various telecommunication systems to detect telecommunication fraud. The present invention can also be applied to security monitoring systems to detect an unauthorized access to a target system. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a real time fraud monitoring system. As a result, the present invention provides an up-front automated detection method and system for detecting call-looping abuse.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5809125 (1998-09-01), Gammino

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