Government Launches Digital Intelligence Platform for Telecom Fraud: Oculeus shares advice with telecoms regulators

Recently, the Indian government unveiled two digital platforms named ‘Digital Intelligence Platform’ and ‘Chakshu’. The objective is to assist citizens in identifying fraudulent calls and text messages. while facilitating collaboration between law enforcement agencies, banks, financial intermediaries, and other stakeholders to swiftly block numbers involved in fraudulent activities.

AI technologies can play an important role in reducing the impact of telecom fraud. AI-backed software tools can help the telecom operators and government authorities greatly, helping to deal with threat actors in telecom cybersecurity.

In a recent interview, Gavin Stewart, Vice President of Sales at Oculeus, shared insights into the evolving telecom fraud and how the government can help. "Telecom fraud constantly evolves, employing both new and traditional methods to exploit vulnerabilities. Fraudsters prioritize easy ways to make money, which can range from complex schemes to exploiting simple weaknesses,” explained Stewart.

According to Stewart, governments play a crucial role in regulating telecom operators to safeguard citizens' interests, balancing profit motives with consumer protection. Regulators are increasingly intervening to address telecom fraud due to its potential negative impacts, from nuisance calls to significant financial losses for consumers, he added."A major problem is unregulated cross-border traffic as there are no international regulators. Greater cross-border regulatory co-operation is required to harmonize regulatory approach. In countries such as the US, Germany, UK and Australia, the regulators have recently acted to impose new laws aimed at reducing the prevalence of scam calls.

Regulations need to take into account various aspects

Stewart discussed the importance of implementing regulations only after taking into account various aspects, else the problem might be inadvertently pushed elsewhere. He gave an example, "One European regulator issued a new requirement to block fraud attacks from overseas. The telecom operators did as they were instructed. In basic terms the project was successful in doing what it set out to. However, when citizens who were abroad tried to call home, their number showed up as unrecognized meaning their relatives or colleagues didn't take the call."

Messaging (SMS, Whatsapp etc) is a popular channel by which fraudsters deceive citizens into downloading malware, disclosing valuable private credentials, or being tricked into transferring online funds. Anti-fraud solutions can be highly effective when they are allowed to study the content within the messages. However, the ability to do so may be blocked by privacy laws. The exchange of technical data to verify identities is also a highly useful technique in fighting fraud but again, often constrained by data protection laws.

Why it is better to leave regulation to industry

When asking  Stewart what recommendations he would want to offer to a regulator seeking to enact policies aimed at reducing telecoms fraud, he stated, "Governments shouldn't be too prescriptive about recommending a given technical approach. The role of a regulator should be to define the requirement, but let industry devise an optimal technical approach for meeting it. Generally we do not expect Governments to be technical experts. In the US, a particular technical solution called STIR/SHAKEN was imposed on the industry at a significant cost. The initiative was designed to eliminate Robocalls, but instead found that Robocall volumes continued to increase even after implementation. This shows the risks of Governments getting too closely involved in technical solution design."

Stewart went on talking about how the governments need to work within to help resolve clashes between different legislations. He said, "Citizens do not want to see erosion of their privacy rights, but they also need protection from criminals and fraudsters. Governments and regulators have to decide where the line should be drawn to achieve a balance. In Belgium and Poland, the law was recently changed to allow the lawful inspection of Messaging contents provided there was a justifiable purpose in fighting fraud."

Optimization of anti-fraud policies

Wrapping up the conversation with advice to regulators to work with the community of technical innovators and solutions providers as their business relies on successfully fighting fraud. He commented, "Regulators in Spain and Peru recently opened public consultations which allow for the optimization of anti-fraud policies, and help ensure they get it right. This can only be positive as it allows input from the wider industry. Software providers such as Oculeus are able to think through requirement architecture fully so that we don’t solve one problem only to create another one. We are also delivering solutions in numerous countries worldwide, so have a wider perspective that is not readily available to a Regulator in a single country."

With telecommunications lying at the core of business operations, an active policy to protect anyone using the technology is imminent. Oculeus, with a suite of products and technologies , offers fraud prevention solutions designed to hit upon and mitigate fraud in real-time.