Traffic Pumping: A Growing Telecom Threat

Traffic pumping, also referred to as toll-free traffic pumping or access stimulation, is a sophisticated type of toll fraud that exploits toll-free phone numbers. Fraudsters generate high volumes of fake calls to inflate costs for businesses while profiting from the charges. This practice poses significant financial, operational, and reputational risks, especially for organizations that rely heavily on toll-free communication channels for customer support and sales. Understanding the mechanics of traffic pumping, its impacts, and the strategies to detect, stop, and prevent it is essential for protecting your business.

What Is Traffic Pumping?

Traffic pumping is a fraudulent activity where attackers make large volumes of calls to toll-free numbers. These calls, which often appear legitimate at first glance, are designed to stay connected as long as possible to maximize the charges incurred by the toll-free service. Fraudsters profit by billing these charges to the business’s toll-free carrier through fake or complicit telecommunications companies.

Unlike other types of telecom fraud, traffic pumping doesn’t directly involve stealing data or hacking into systems. Instead, it takes advantage of how toll-free services work: businesses are billed for the cost of incoming calls. Fraudsters exploit this model to create inflated traffic that generates revenue for themselves while burdening the targeted business with substantial expenses.

Why Traffic Pumping Is a Threat to Businesses

Traffic pumping has far-reaching consequences for businesses that become victims.

  • Substantial Financial Costs Fraudulent calls can lead to dramatically increased toll charges. Depending on the volume and length of the attack, businesses may face bills amounting to tens of thousands or even millions of dollars.
  • Operational Disruption Fraudulent calls overload phone lines and IVR systems, preventing legitimate customers from getting through. This leads to delayed or missed service opportunities, affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Resource Drain Employees and automated systems waste valuable time managing fraudulent calls, reducing productivity and driving up operational costs.
  • Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) In severe cases, the high volume of fake calls can result in a TDoS condition, where legitimate communications are entirely blocked, disrupting critical business operations.
  • Reputational Damage If a business is unable to respond to legitimate customer inquiries due to traffic pumping, it risks damaging its reputation. Customers may perceive the company as unresponsive or unreliable, leading to a loss of trust.

How Traffic Pumping Works

Traffic pumping schemes are methodical and exploit specific weaknesses in toll-free services and telecommunication systems. Here’s how they operate:

  • Creating Fraudulent Numbers Fraudsters set up revenue-generating or premium-rate phone numbers by creating fake carriers or collaborating with carriers that are complicit in the fraud. These numbers are designed to generate income based on the volume and duration of calls they receive.
  • Targeting Toll-Free Lines Attackers flood a business’s toll-free numbers with high volumes of calls. These are often automated and may use spoofed numbers to appear as if they come from legitimate sources. These calls are routed to IVR systems or contact centers.
  • Maximizing Call Duration Fraudulent calls are crafted to remain active for extended periods. For example, attackers may design their calls to navigate through IVR menus repeatedly or remain on hold for as long as possible. This increases the charges incurred by the business.
  • Billing the Victim The fraudulent carrier bills the toll-free service provider for the high call volume, and the charges are passed on to the business. Fraudsters receive a portion of the inflated fees.
  • Evading Detection To avoid detection, fraudsters vary their calling patterns, spoof caller IDs, or spread the activity across multiple numbers. They may also time their attacks during off-hours when monitoring is less active.

How to Detect Traffic Pumping

Early detection of traffic pumping is critical to minimizing its impact on your business. Warning signs include:

  • Sudden Spikes in Call Volume A sharp, unexplained increase in the number of calls to toll-free numbers, especially during unusual times like late at night or on weekends, is a red flag.
  • Consistent Patterns or Anomalies Call logs showing repeated calls from specific regions, numbers, or caller IDs, or consistent call durations, may indicate fraudulent activity.
  • Extended IVR Call Durations Fraudulent calls often aim to stay connected to IVR systems for as long as possible. Unusually long calls that don’t lead to meaningful interactions should be investigated.
  • Significantly Higher Toll-Free Charges A sudden and dramatic increase in your toll-free service bill without a corresponding increase in legitimate activity is a strong indicator of traffic pumping.
  • Blocked Lines or Delayed Responses If customers report difficulty reaching your business or experiencing delays, it could be a sign that fraudulent calls are overwhelming your system.

How to Stop Traffic Pumping

If you suspect traffic pumping is affecting your business, immediate action is necessary to stop the fraud and mitigate further damage.

  • Contact Your Toll-Free Service Provider Alert your carrier about the suspicious activity. Many providers have tools and protocols to identify and block fraudulent traffic.
  • Block Fraudulent Numbers Use call-blocking tools to prevent calls from specific numbers or regions that are known to be sources of fraudulent traffic.
  • Enforce Call Thresholds Set limits on the number and duration of calls from specific regions or numbers. Calls that exceed these thresholds can be flagged for review or automatically blocked.
  • Implement Real-Time Monitoring Deploy telecom security monitoring systems that provide real-time insights into call activity. This allows for immediate identification and mitigation of anomalies.
  • Engage Security Experts Work with telecom security specialists to analyze your traffic patterns and deploy advanced fraud detection and prevention measures.

How to Prevent Traffic Pumping

Preventing traffic pumping requires a proactive approach to securing your telecommunication systems.

  • Strengthening System Security Ensure your PBX and VoIP systems are updated with the latest patches and security configurations to close vulnerabilities that fraudsters might exploit.
  • Authenticating Calls Deploy call authentication technology and protocols like STIR/SHAKEN to verify the legitimacy of incoming calls and reduce the risk of spoofing.
  • Monitoring and Analytics Continuously monitor your toll-free numbers for unusual activity and set up alerts for anomalies. Real-time analytics can help identify threats before they escalate.
  • Restricting Call Activity Set geographic and call volume restrictions to limit unnecessary or high-risk activity.
  • Educating Employees Train your staff to recognize signs of fraud and follow best practices when managing phone systems and customer inquiries.
  • Working With Your Carrier Collaborate with your toll-free service provider to implement proactive fraud prevention measures such as traffic filtering and spending caps.

SecureLogix Solutions for Traffic Pumping and Call Fraud

SecureLogix solutions for call security, trust, and authentication offer a comprehensive approach to protecting your voice network and contact center. Our technology, backed by the most skilled team in the industry, protects some of the largest and most complex systems in the world. From stopping call center fraud, blocking robocall scams, and detecting vishing and payday loan scams to enhancing trust through number reputation management and branded caller ID, we offer inbound and outbound call center software solutions that enable businesses to reduce costs, restore trust, maximize revenue, and increase security.

SecureLogix Call Defense™ System: Powerful Protection Against Traffic Pumping

As the leading line of protection against traffic pumping and other fraudulent calling activities, SecureLogix Call Defense™ System is designed to protect your voice systems and communications from attack, disruption, fraud, and abuse. The Call Defense™ System sits at the edge of your voice network to filter out and block malicious traffic in real time, reducing unwanted calls and keeping your voice network safe and secure from attacks and fraud. Components of the Call Defense™ System include a voice firewall, voice intrusion prevention system (IPS), a malicious callers database (Red List), and forensic reporting. With the ability to implement voice security policy in real time, you can identify and stop attacks like traffic pumping, toll fraud, vishing, robocalls, telephony denial of service (TDoS), and more.

SecureLogix Call Secure™ Managed Service

This fully managed service combines the power of the cutting-edge technology in the Call Defense™ System with the expertise of the most experienced call security service team in the business. With Call Secure™, you get the security protections you need while freeing your IT team from the burden of managing additional security technology.

SecureLogix® Orchestra One™ Call Authentication Service

Orchestra One™ combines automated call authentication with spoofing detection services in a solution that’s smart, efficient, and affordable. Orchestra One™ automatically authenticates all inbound calls without requiring costly and tedious knowledge-based interrogations. Using multiple zero-cost and low-cost metadata services and thousands of call details, Orchestra One™ produces a high-value risk score for each call at the lowest per-call price. An integrated outbound spoofing protection service blocks fraudsters and spammers from completing calls when spoofing your corporate calling numbers.

FAQ

Q: What is traffic pumping?

Traffic pumping, or access stimulation, is a fraudulent activity where attackers generate high volumes of calls to toll-free numbers to inflate costs for businesses while profiting from the charges.

Q: Can traffic pumping lead to system outages?

Yes, traffic pumping can cause Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) conditions, where legitimate communications are blocked due to overwhelming call volumes.

Q: How do fraudsters profit from traffic pumping?

Fraudsters collaborate with fake or complicit carriers to receive a share of the charges incurred by the victim’s toll-free service provider.

Q: What tools can prevent traffic pumping?

Call authentication, real-time monitoring, call-blocking systems, and analytics tools can all help prevent traffic pumping.

Q: How can telecom carriers help prevent fraud?

Businesses can work with their carriers to implement fraud detection tools, set spending caps, and block suspicious traffic in real time.

Additional Reading