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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

AB Handshake Amps Up its Telephone Fraud Fighting Capabilities by Leveraging iconectiv’s Intelligent Numbering Solution

AB Handshake is leveraging iconectiv’s TruNumber Protect intelligent numbering data to further enhance its fraud management system. With this accurate data processed by iconectiv TruNumber Protect, potential fraudulent calls can be better detected and prevented in real-time. This allows AB Handshake’s telecom service provider customers to recover lost revenues, streamline traceback requests and reduce customer churn.
Jun 7, 2022
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How Can We Safeguard the Booming Global Mobile Money Market from Fraudsters?

More consumers than ever before are turning to their mobile devices to conduct banking transactions via SMS and Rich Communications Services (RCS). In fact, the Global Mobile Money Market size was valued at USD 4.24 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 31.88 Billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 28.67% from 2021 to 2028. But, while the opportunity for the booming mobile money market is great, it does not come without challenge – specifically around the mobile wallet itself. During the CFCA Summer Education Event session, “Protecting the Mobile Wallet: Why Number Portability is Critical to Safeguarding Mobile Banking,” iconectiv’s Jonathan Herttua, Director of Information Solutions, and Carolyn Knight, Senior Account Manager for the company’s United States Local Number Portability (LNPA) team will examine how number portability data can be used in a new way to help keep mobile money safe for customers and banks.
May 24, 2022
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How Can Telecom Operators Grow Their Businesses While Mitigating Risk?

Service providers are under significant pressure to sustain revenue growth and profitability while delivering new digital services. At the same time, regulations, technology disruptions, intensifying competition and changing customer demands are also placing telecom operators at a financial and operational crossroads: How can they grow their businesses while reducing cost and mitigating risk? During an upcoming webinar, “Driving Financial Decisions and Compliance with Fixed Asset Management”, iconectiv’s Eyad Alqadi, Regional Director for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and John Hayes, Senior Director, will explore the role that FAM plays in providing critical information to drive financial decisions and ensure compliance.
May 17, 2022
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Toll-Free Calls to Benefit from Nation’s Robocall Mitigation Efforts

As part of its new policy, the Secure Telephony Identity Governance Authority (STI-GA) has approved iconectiv as a responsible organization (RespOrg), allowing it to verify the identity of the businesses and contact center operators authorized to use toll-free telephone numbers on our RespOrg. Industry initiatives such as STIR/SHAKEN are rebuilding consumer confidence in voice calls. As a RespOrg, iconectiv now can help verify the identity of the businesses and contact center operators authorized to use toll-free telephone numbers on our RespOrg to help ensure that their outbound calls are not mistakenly flagged as spam.
May 12, 2022
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With Voice and Messaging Communications, Trust is a Two-Way Street

The past few years have demonstrated just how much we depend on our mobile phones – for services, connection and convenience. As a result, digital transformation is gaining significant momentum, and identity verification is becoming more critical than ever. Businesses need to have trust in knowing who their customers are and consumers need to trust that the company that is calling or texting them is indeed who they say they are. In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, iconectiv Senior Vice President George Cray provided insights on how the industry is working to re-establish trust in the global communications ecosystem and the role that iconectiv plays in pushing digital transformation forward while ensuring service providers comply with regulations.
May 2, 2022
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Do You Take Calls from Numbers You Don’t Recognize? Odds Are, You Don’t

In this day and age, where so many in-person interactions have been replaced with remote engagements, digital transformation has become fundamental. As a result, businesses and consumers are relying on their mobile devices more than ever – utilizing voice and text communications to navigate their personal and professional lives. But with more than 85 billion spam phone calls being placed globally each year – costing trillions of dollars in lost business and productivity – keeping both the voice and messaging ecosystem safe for consumers and attractive to business is critical. In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, iconectiv CTO Chris Drake answered these questions, and discussed how to further build trust in communications, insights on new solutions to better identify legitimate businesses and more.
Apr 25, 2022
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How Service Providers are Weeding Out Illegal Robocalls, SMS Spam and Other Fraud Before It Reaches Consumers

Each year, communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide lose over US$39 billion to fraud such as illegal robocalls, SMS phishing (“smishing”) and “wangiri” callback schemes, according to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) and analyst firms. During the panel session, “Protect Your Customers from One-Ring Scams: Trusted Tools to Fight Fraud,” iconectiv telecom fraud expert David Estes will discuss how CSPs are upgrading their existing call-blocking analytics to identify calls from high-risk and unallocated number ranges and suspicious premium-rate numbers.
Apr 22, 2022