Telecom Fraud & Electronic Crime in Fix and Mobile Telecommunications


09.11.2006
Speaker : Michalis Mavis.
Date : 09.11.2006
Time: 13:30-15:00
Location : "Mediterranean Studies" Seminar Room, FORTH, Heraklion, Crete.
Host : Euaggelos Markatos
Abstract:

Telecommunications fraud and electronic crime is a growing phenomenon all over the world. According to FIINA (Forum for International Irregular Network Access) an organization with members from more than 100 countries, Telecom Operators are loosing more than 50 billion Euros every year, worldwide, due to telecom fraud and electronic crime.

How fraud and crime takes place: Telecom fraud and electronic crime is taking place in all kind of services Operators are offering. The motivation is to gain access to services without paying the relevant cost, or to get money (call selling - subscription fraud) by providing services to other people, using infrastructures with wrong identification (identity theft). Fix and Mobile Telecom Operators face new methods of fraud and electronic crime in their day to day business. In Creta island there are some very clever foreign mafia groups (from Middle East area), that were successful in the past years in defrauding fix and mobile operators.

In the presentation some interesting business cases will be presented and the mafia groups mode of operation will be explained, by Mr. Michalis Mavis (invited speaker by ITE).

Bio:

Mr. Mavis (michalis.mavis@gmail.com) was the founder and first Chairman of EFTA (Hellenic Fraud Forum), that was established in the year 2000, by the major Telecom Operators in Greece (COSMOTE, OTE, Vodafone and TIM) with the aim to fight telecommunications fraud and electronic crime amongst its members. He worked for OTE since 1977, from where he was voluntarily retired in Oct-2006, to work as independent consultant. In the past 7 years he worked as Head of OTE (Hellenic Telecom Organization) Security Audit and Fraud Control Division. Mr. Mavis worked as telecom security engineer in NATO Brussels between 1989-1993 and as Project Supervisor in EURESCOM (European Institute for Research & Strategic Studies in Telecommunications) in Heidelberg Germany between 1995-1999. He has been chairman of ETNO WG on Information Security (ETNO=European Telecom Network Operators Association), national rep in SOGIS (Senior Officials Group on Information Security a European Commission advisory group) and national member to ETSI TA & GA (Euroepan Telecom Standards Institute Technical and General Assembly).