---
title: "FIRESIDE CHAT: Outrageous phone bills stun businesses targeted for ‘SMS toll fraud’"
metaTitle: "Outrageous Phone Bills from SMS Toll Fraud"
slug: outrageous-phone-bills-sms-toll-fraud
date: "2023-06-30T10:00:00-05:00"
image:
  src: "https://cdn.securelogix.dev/slx/images/outrageous-phone-bills-sms-toll-fraud.webp"
sourcePublisher:
  name: Security Boulevard
  url: securityboulevard.com
sourceArticle:
  url: "https://securityboulevard.com/2023/06/fireside-chat-outrageous-phone-bills-stun-businesses-targeted-for-sms-toll-fraud/"
tags: [Toll Fraud, Call Pumping]
status: published
---

SMS toll fraud is spiking. I learned all about the nuances of deploying – and defending – these insidious attacks in a recent visit with Arkose Labs CEO, Kevin Gosschalk, who explained how the perpetrators victimize businesses that use text messages to validate phone users signing up for a new account.

The fraudsters set themselves up as “affiliates” of phone companies in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and then use bots to apply for online accounts, en masse, at a targeted business. The con: each text message the business then sends in return — to validate the applicant — generates a fee for the phone company which it shares with the affiliate...