Hi All,

Can anyone tell me what the Telco's responsibility is with regard to Fraud Calls made by hacking a PBX (e.g. using voicemail to redirect local DDI number calls to an external international number)? I realise that the PBX itself is the owner's responsibility but is there a responsibility on the Telco to advise a customer should Fraud-like activity be occurring on their account (e.g. repeated calling to the same numbers in somewhere like Somalia or Nigeria that the customer never calls, calls occurring every 2-5 minutes 24-hours a day with multiple calls simultaneously, and over a period of several weeks blowing out the value of charging of the customers account by 1000% in one month - e.g. from $10k to $120k - so in a single week there is 3 times the normal charges).

I understand that Telecom actively monitor for this and advise a customer within a few days of it starting (i.e. unusual activity or excessive extraordinary charges being incurred); and that in many cases Telecom actually waive the costs to the customer... (much the same as how Credit Card Companies operate with Credit Card Fraud).

But apparently other Telco's do not - Does a customer (especially a Small/Medium Business) have recourse to the Telco over this (and do Telecom always do as described above) - As the customer has no way to monitor their activity until they get the bill at the end of the month they are totally reliant on the Telco's vigilance and pro-activeness to protect them?

Also is there a specific authority to talk to about this type of fraud (other than reporting to the police) - I'm investigating with a couple of consumer rights organisations but when it's a company that is the victim what are it's rights?

Many TIA for any further enlightenment/guidance/thoughts on this issue...