One of our Unitas Partner Insurers, QBE, has recently reported on a new threat to hit business. Phone Phreaking is a fraud where commercial phone systems are hacked in order to place outbound calls to premium-rate numbers. These numbers are controlled by the fraudsters themselves and can be charged at extortionate rates.
It is an attractive scam to the criminals; it’s carried out remotely, difficult to prevent and unlikely to be detected until a large phone bill arrives.
Although still a relatively new crime, Phone Phreaking is already estimated to cost UK businesses over £1bn per year, with the average cost of a UK attack thought to be around £10,000. Currently there is no silver bullet for preventing this fraud, save investing in an expensive software solution.
QBE provides up to £50,000 cover for Phone Phreaking under their Cyber & Data Security policy.
If you have any concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can look at the options available to insure your business against these types of losses.
Mike Martin
Group Director