The telecom industry faces growing challenges from fraudulent calls, SMS scams, and impersonation schemes. These activities undermine consumer confidence, disrupt democratic processes, and raise concerns around data security. From phishing attempts aimed at personal information to misleading messages during sensitive times like elections, it's clear that protecting communication channels is more important than ever.
Yet, despite the rapid escalation of these threats, the industry's response has been fragmented and inconsistent. According to a 2024 report, scammers have siphoned away more than a trillion dollars globally in just a year. These numbers highlight the severity of the issue, but they only scratch the surface of the damage caused. Regulators are increasingly being called upon to play a decisive role in protecting consumers and businesses.
Among the myriad tactics employed by fraudsters, spoofing remains one of the most insidious and notoriously difficult to detect and combat. This method, which alters caller or sender IDs to mimic trusted sources, enables vishing, smishing, and impersonation fraud. Fraudsters exploit this technique to impersonate banks, government agencies, and healthcare providers. Consequently, enterprises are left vulnerable to reputational damage.
For telecom operators, on the other hand, fraud can erode consumer confidence, creating operational challenges as they struggle to block malicious traffic without disrupting legitimate services. Although many operators have some level of fraud prevention in place, whether through in-house solutions or external vendors, measures are often reactive rather than proactive, identifying fraudulent behavior after it has occurred and then blocking further activity. Many systems lack the precision needed to detect and block fraudulent traffic in real-time.
That is why AB Handshake strives for accuracy in order to empower both operators and enterprises to prevent fraud. Its out-of-band validation protocol is a prime example of this approach. The company employs a 'handshake' between the originating and receiving networks to verify the authenticity of calls and messages—a real-time, end-to-end validation. According to Nadejda Papernaia, CEO of AB Handshake, "By stopping spoofing at its source, service providers can preserve trust in their networks."
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been playing a major role in every aspect of every industry, and this includes fraud prevention. By analyzing patterns and anomalies in call and message traffic, AI-powered systems will be able to generate insights, predictions, and recommendations with remarkable precision. AB Handshake's innate ability to utilize AI-driven systems makes it an essential component of modern fraud prevention strategies. While these solutions are effective at the operator level, problems like spoofing are difficult to detect.
Protection from spoofing requires collaboration between national operators. This poses a problem as each organization is a competitor in its own right and lacks the incentive to collaborate with one another. Without a shift in mindset initiated by the regulators themselves, national operators might find it challenging to solve this problem. Banks, regulators, and operators all have shared objectives and ultimately benefit from effective protection, and this collaboration can only be achieved with the guidance of regulators.
Given these limitations, national regulators must take the lead in deploying robust, real-time fraud prevention solutions, according to Papernaia. By implementing technical solutions at a national level, regulators can foster cooperation among competing operators, enterprises, and government agencies. They can also ensure the integrity of voice and SMS traffic and ultimately protect consumers and businesses from the growing threats of fraud and misinformation.
Some regulators have already taken steps in this direction. The STIR/SHAKEN protocol in the U.S., for instance, was a notable attempt to combat robocalls and spoofing. While it has had some positive outcomes, the limitations underscore the need for more effective and universally applicable solutions. That is why, as fraud tactics continue to evolve, regulators must stay ahead of the curve.
Real-time inter-operator platforms, which enable seamless cooperation between operators, enterprises, and governments, represent the future of telecom fraud prevention. These platforms can support the enforcement of additional services such as Do-Not-Call registries, sender registries, and other nationwide tools that enhance security and consumer trust.
To further accelerate this fraud prevention, AB Handshake has even exchanged 'handshakes' with a few regulators. "We're actively supporting several regulators who have a vested interest in protecting national security, information security, and consumers from scams on a national level. This national approach has benefited not only the regulators themselves but operators and end-users alike," the CEO emphasizes.
The question is no longer whether regulators should act—it's how quickly they can implement the changes needed to protect consumers, businesses, and nations. As the CEO says, "The time for action is now. Only by working together will we be able to ensure a safer and more trustworthy telecom ecosystem for all."
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