· Announcement made at International Telecoms Week (ITW) 2023
· Partnership comes as i3forum launches industry-wide initiative to restore trust
· i3forum and GSC partner to establish guidelines tailored to the fight against SMS fraud
Paris, France – i3forum, a leading industry association focused on driving global collaboration and innovation within the communications sector, and the Global Solutions Council (GSC), a non-profit organization enabling the communications industry to simplify, improve, standardize, and resolve the exchange of billing and settlement information globally, have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the fight against SMS fraud.
Having worked hard to establish principles and KPIs for international carriers in the fight against voice fraud, the i3forum’s Fight Fraud workgroup has now firmly set its sights on establishing new guidelines to tackle the surging threat of SMS fraud. i3forum is already in discussions with the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) to build on the great work that they’ve conceptualized and the new partnership with the GSC will help to enrich insights on the challenges of dealing with SMS fraud operationally and financially on the front line.
As the current chair of i3forum’s Fight Fraud workgroup, Katia Gonzalez, who was recently elected to the i3forum board, will be leading collaborations throughout the telecoms world to promote SMS fraud awareness and implement a unified and standardized approach to resolve and measure complex fraud issues.
“Earlier this year, the GSC raised the flag and informed us their members’ SMS services were increasingly witnessing the effects of fraud attacks and there were growing concerns around dispute management and payments,” said Gonzalez, who is also Head of Fraud Prevention and Analytics at BICS.
“Having successfully established standards and a code of conduct to combat fraud in voice, which was endorsed by the Global Leaders’ Forum (GLF), we’re looking forward to working collaboratively with the GSC to establish the same principles in the area of SMS services.”
There are many factors that are contributing to the increase in malicious SMS fraud, including: SMS hacking, smishing, spoofing, spamming, and malware. According to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) Fraud Loss Survey 2021, SMS fraud accounted for $3.65 billion in losses, but that figure is surging today.
“The GSC’s members are at the sharp end resolving and dealing with disputes and fraudulent settlements. Our partnership with i3forum gives us the opportunity to play an active role in agreeing on and creating the right principles and guidelines to combat SMS fraud,” said Executive Council Member of the GSC, Simon Dodsworth, who is also VP and Head of Voice Trading at Arelion.
“The time to collaborate is now. Our livelihoods are at stake as the speed at which messaging fraud is accelerating is like condensing the last 20 years of voice fraud evolution into a fraction of that time. Given that voice margins are declining, many companies are relying on messaging as a useful supplement to their revenues. The GSC is proud to begin work with i3forum to fight the surging existential threat facing the carrier world today.”
About i3forum
The i3forum is a non-profit industry body focused on driving global collaboration and innovation across the international communications ecosystem through an open and inclusive model. The i3forum and its community develop practical recommendations, tools, solutions, and policies to help understand consumer behavior, leverage technology, adapt to regulatory requirements, and foster trust in international communications. For more information, visit www.i3forum.org.
About Global Solutions Council
The Global Solutions Council (GSC) is a non-profit organization that was created in January 2003 by a collective of leading Carriers dedicated to meeting increased demand for flexible global electronic information exchange, billing and settlement standardization and best practices business process development to accelerate commercial resolution and performance. The GSC’s mission is to be the reference for commercial resolution in the communications industry and to provide the blueprint and advance the processes, best practices and tools that foster resolution.
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