Line Takeover

Minimize the Risk of Line Takeover
Many banks have a policy of calling a customer back to verify that a caller is actually calling from a phone number on file with the bank. These “customer callbacks,” often used with wire transfer confirmations, are also open to manipulation. 

Fraudsters use social engineering to take over phone lines by causing them to be transferred to a different number within their control. 

Use Case with TrustID:  A fraudster places a call to the telephone company’s repair office, reporting “trouble” on a phone line the perpetrator wants to take over. This reported “troubled phone line” is the line that the fraudster wants to be able to answer for bank confirmation callbacks. The fraudster creates a heartbreaking story for the telephone representative, explaining, “this is a really bad day to lose phone service…”  The telephone company representative is then asked, while repairing the phone line “troubles,” to transfer calls to the fraudster’s “mobile phone” until the line is restored. The “mobile phone” may actually be a VoIP number, answerable anywhere – even internationally –  by the fraudster. Incoming calls to that line are now in control of the fraudster.

Line takeover is a significant threat to a bank’s use of customer callbacks since financial institutions use outbound return calling to authenticate large financial transactions. TrustID’s ability to mitigate telephonic social engineering materially reduces the needs for callbacks, thus eliminating the risk of line takeovers.