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Interview with CBS: Basketball fans experience scam through text messages during March Madness craze

CBS Corpus Christi’s Victoria Balderrama reports on the dangers of NCAA March Madness. Balderrama turns to a fraud mitigation expert, Chris Drake, for tips on what to watch out for as the tournament progresses. The SVP of iconectiv warns views to never download a file from a text message sent by an unknown 10-digit number, as they can infect the device with malware. As a precaution, he suggests sports fans freeze their credit and back up their phone.
Mar 15, 2023
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Interview with FOX: Mobile Betting Scams: Sports betting expert shares ways to avoid scams ahead of March Madness

Fox Boston reports on the uptick in scams looking to cash in on the urgency surrounding March Madness betting. Chris Drake, SVP of iconectiv, shares his insight on the topic and warns viewers to be wary of 10-digit numbers, as they are easy to spoof. Other red flags to be on the lookout for include misspelled words, attachments/links or any request to be sent money via an untraceable method, such as cryptocurrency, gift cards or payment apps. Drake recommends that sports fans caught in a scam disengage and report the scam to the FTC or local police.
Mar 15, 2023
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Interview with FOX: March Madness scammers? How to keep yourself safe

FOX Cleveland’s Brad Hamilton seeks input from iconectiv SVP, George Cray, on how scammers are leveraging March Madness to steal personal information. Cray warns that Ohio is a hotspot for scams, as the state can now legally bet on the tournament. He suggests putting a freeze on your credit and reporting scams to the local police.
Mar 14, 2023
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Interview with FOX: March Madness brings the Final Four, and scammers, to Houston

Tom Zizka of FOX Houston warns viewers that March Madness is an opportunity for fraudsters to steal fans’ personal information. Scammers will use the NCAA tournament to craft texts around ticket sales or a betting opportunity in hopes to trick receivers into sharing personal information or clicking malicious links. George Cray, VP at iconectiv, offers insight as a telecom security expert and recommends never trusting these texts with sensitive information or clicking links. Zizka explains that another level of protection comes with messages from 5 or 6-digit numbers. Businesses have registered and undergone a vetting process to obtain these numbers, making them much more trustworthy.
Mar 14, 2023
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Interview with CBS: “They cleared my whole bank account,” Jax woman scammed, experts now warning others about spam texts

Megan Moriarty of CBS Jacksonville shares the story of how Tesa Childs was a victim of number porting fraud. The victim shared that her bank account was emptied, and the scammer had complete access to her phone. Moiarty turns to telecom expert, George Cray, VP of iconectiv, for insight on how viewers can protect themselves. Cray explains that you can never 100% trust a text from an unknow 10-digit number and that 5-6-digit short codes are more reliable.
Mar 8, 2023
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VanillaPlus Magazine Issue 1 2023: Are we nearly there yet?

In VanillaPlus Magazine, iconectiv shares an expert deep dive into origin-based rating. Over the past several years, network service providers have been feeling increased pressure to find new income streams to offset shrinking voice and data revenues, as well as margins. Origin-based rating is an untapped income opportunity that lies in how network service providers operate their business – specifically in relation to how they charge for terminating calls.
Feb 21, 2023
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Interview with FOX: Experts remind people to watch out for tax scams

Joshua Oculam of FOX Scranton cautions viewers of tax scams ramping up before April. iconectiv CTO, Chris Drake, provides expert insight on ways to keep viewers and their information safe. Drake explains that the IRS will contact Americans by notices in the mail, not by text or email. If a suspicious looking message is received, Drake warns to never click the link and to freeze your credit.
Feb 17, 2023

Press Releases

Media Contact:
Sharon Oddy
Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications
+1 732 699-5130
soddy@iconectiv.com

press release

iconectiv Shines Light on How Restoring Trust in Phone Calls and Text is Key for Digital Transformation

At MWC Barcelona 2022, iconectiv will share examples of successful industry initiatives and technologies that are restoring consumer trust in voice calls and text messaging, which is paramount to helping ensure the success of enterprise digital transformation. Rebuilding consumer trust in voice calls and text messages — after years of being undermined by illegal robocalls, SMS spam and fraud — is critical to the mobile ecosystem and all the retailers, schools, health care providers and other organizations that depend on it to inform and engage consumers.
Feb 23, 2022
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Fraud is Big Business and Companies are Fighting Back

57% of consumers say they now prefer online banking to traditional branch banking, and 55% prefer using mobile banking apps to stay on top of their finances, all according to the World Retail Banking Report. And, with contactless payments expected to continue rising worldwide to reach an over $1.6 trillion transaction value by 2024, according to data from BuyShares.co.uk, this burgeoning market is a major target for fraudsters looking to get a piece of the pie. During the MWC panel session, “The Rise of Scam Attacks,” iconectiv will examine the various attack vectors the industry faces – from illegal robocalls to smishing exploits – and what’s being done to address them.
Feb 16, 2022
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Registered Caller Helps Maximize Call Answer Rates for Businesses

Spam and illegal robocalls have caused consumers to stop answering calls from telephone numbers they don’t recognize. This poses a significant challenge for legitimate businesses trying to reach consumers by telephone with important or timely updates and information. A Registered Caller proof-of-concept trial with Verizon and Metaswitch successfully showed that valid enterprise calls were fully authenticated, shared and broadcasted for optimal call delivery to improve the call answer rate.
Jan 25, 2022
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U.S. Federal Agencies Can Quickly and Accurately Compare Telecom Providers Before Ordering Services Through the GSA

It is time consuming for federal agencies to research and compare dozens of telecom service providers. That’s why the U.S. General Services Administration created the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program, which provides agencies with a single, convenient resource for quickly identifying their options. A new use case explores how iconectiv’s Common Language enables agencies to quickly, accurately and confidently compare their options before ordering services through the GSA.
Jan 20, 2022
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A Single Fraudulent Call Cost A Major Retailer $400,000. Here’s What It Did Next.

Retailers and other businesses lose an average of $1.82 billion annually to callback fraud, according to the Communications Fraud Control Association. A newly released iconectiv use case describes how one major retailer that lost $400,000 in a single callback fraud incident, opted to address the issue by banning all callbacks to the country where the fraud originated before realizing that there were other, more customer-first options available. The use case explains how the retailer trialed iconectiv® TruNumber Protect, which features a comprehensive, continually updated database of high-risk and unallocated telephone number ranges worldwide, that enables retailers to assess situations as they come and protect themselves from fraud.
Jan 13, 2022
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MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Passes 300 Million Ported Numbers Milestone

Mobile number porting frees India’s consumers and businesses to keep their mobile number when switching service providers. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is good for businesses, consumers and the industry because it provides customers with choices, which drives competition and innovation. Since 2011, MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India (MITS), an iconectiv subsidiary, has managed over 300 million port requests across its 575 million subscribers throughout Zone 2.
Jan 4, 2022
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AT&T and iconectiv Examine Foundational Ways to Monetize And Operationalize 5G Deployments And Services

Despite the operational and monetization challenges service providers face in the deployment of business strategies involving 5G, operational improvements and savings can be realized across all industries. In a recent Network Media Group panel, experts from iconectiv and AT&T explore the importance of an industry alliance to achieve common goals, common standards and common APIs that will help operational partners reduce complexity as well as TruOps Common Language as the foundational element that allows AT&T to deploy new services more rapidly.
Dec 1, 2021