6 posts tagged with "Sinapsio"

Welcome to the official blog of Betatel, where we dive deep into the cutting-edge world of AI solutions. As a leader in fraud prevention within the telecom industry, we are committed to bringing you the latest innovations, insights, and developments from our projects, including Sinapsio, which focuses on seamless AI-driven interactions. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a telecom professional, or simply curious about AI's transformative potential, you’ll find valuable resources here.

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As the telco world evolves, the opportunities operators have begun to vary,and becoming increasingly diverse but so do operators’ challenges. With every new opportunity in telco, comes at least one risk. Fraud is amongst, if not the, largest risk for most carriers. Beyond being a risk for carriers, increasing fraud rates are posing a growing danger to telco customers, making this a risk all members of the market should aim to mitigate. The 2023 GLF Fraud Report, discusses the different layers of today’s fraud and ´underlines the need to keep fraud as a top priority, highlighting the industry’s commitment to addressing this pervasive problem´. However, the report also quotes that ´still more can be done’,especially in consideration of the high degree of variety and ever-increasing complexity and scale, in the dangerous pockets of fraudsters. The modern fraud stakes are based on elaborate and multi-layered schemes, which can be summarised into larger umbrellas, as discussed in this article. However, there are ways to prevent even the most modern forms of fraud; with modern, AI-based solutions, as the ones we provide at Sinapsio. By creating autonomous models that work ahead of the fraudster’s tricks, Sinapsio provides antifraud solutions in a preventative manner. This is opposed to traditional “running after methods”, which look back at past occurrences and then apply measures based on human intervention. These solutions are unfortunately costly and highly time-consuming; two factors which modern telcos can’t afford to have.

What exactly is telco fraud?​

To begin, let us define the concept of telco fraud:

Telecommunications fraud includes any kind of activity designed to abuse and gain an advantage over telecommunications companies using deception (fraudulent practices). Based on this definition, we can classify around 10 types of traditional fraud, that dominate today’s telco market, posing challenges for carriers of all sizes. However, further new ones are on the rise.

International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF)​

The first and unfortunately most predominant form of fraud is IRSF. Having summed up to $7 billion in losses in 2021, alone, IRSF takes advantage of expensive destinations or even premium rates, that are then dialled at customer’s expense without his knowledge, generating revenues for fraudsters. This fraud accrues in many forms of traffic generation on one side and traffic high jacking on the other. Causing increased expenditures for customers and enormous profits for the fraudsters. There are several methods to exploit the higher call rates of carriers; which, however, all boil down to a few simple steps:

• Break into a third party’s phone systems (hacking, extortion, exploit…)

• Generate artificial traffic to a specific destination (at customer's expense)

• Make a deal with the owner of the terminating party (revenue share), or

• High jack the originating traffic in the transit (zero cost).

• Charge for the termination of the generated traffic.

Wangiri​

WANGIRI CALLS - Wangiri fraud involves calling a customer once, allowing the phone to ring briefly and then hanging up. As the name, which means ‘once and cut’ in Japanese, suggests, this one ring and cut awakes interest in the customer, incentivizing them to call back then number. Often, these numbers are expensive premium numbers that the fraudsters run, to generate the absolute maximum revenues per wangiri call-back.   

This form of fraud is greatly growing, and already accounts for the second largest revenue losses, of around $2.2 billion annually. It is specifically detectable when spikes in traffic to high-cost lines occur, although it is getting increasingly more challenging to note these spikes, due to its increase in variety and complexity. However, modern Anti-fraud solutions are the best answer to prevent this form of fraud; which is discussed further in this article:   Wangiri Fraud and Flash Calls 

WANGIRI SMS - Wangiri fraud also occurs via SMS, in which fraudsters prompt a compelling message, incentivising users to call or reply to a given premium number. While less typical, this form of fraud generation has also accredited a great share of losses for operators worldwide, which can be minimised greatly through solutions like Sinapsio.

Interconnect Bypass Fraud​

The next, also advantage-taking, form of fraud is Interconnect Bypass fraud also known as SIM Box Fraud. Especially vulnerable are MNOs with low-cost local retail tariffs and expensive international termination rates.  This method takes advantage of the cheap local tariffs to terminate expensive international calls, by the usage of the so-called SIM-Boxes.   

This technology was originally intended to decease the price of phone calls but has ultimately caused the industry a loss of around $3 billion, in 2021, due to SIM Box Fraud.    

By rerouting calls to a SIM Box, fraudsters are able to avoid the higher termination rates but still charge the high prices. Thereby, fraudsters harvesting a large part of the margin, while often ruining the quality of these international calls (false CLI (caller ID), lower voice quality, longer PDD etc.). Thus, this form of fraud often decreases customer satisfaction and brand image or loyalty, making a key fraud type to invest in preventing.  

CLI manipulation​

CLI manipulation, also known as Caller ID spoofing, is a prevalent form of telco fraud. It involves scammers falsifying the information transmitted to a victim’s caller ID, to disguise their identity. This deceit makes it seem as if the incoming call is from a local number or a trusted member, enabling scammers to use scripts to steal personal information without the victim’s knowledge.

This fraud method has escalated, particularly in the European Union, following the introduction of origin-based surcharges. This motivates fraudsters to enter this window and commit fraud. 

Traditional fraud protection systems have struggled to effectively tackle CLI spoofing, as they are typically reactive, relying on post-event sampling and analysis, allowing some fraudulent calls to slip through. To counteract CLI spoofing, we must implement technologies like those at Sinapsio. 

Our innovative approach involves a community of operators using a common validation process for every call, effectively rendering networks “spoof-proof.” When a call is made, the originating operator sends a verification request to the terminating operator. If the call is not verified as legitimate by both operators, it is automatically identified as fraudulent in real-time and either blocked or flagged. This method benefits operators by avoiding unverifiable traffic and protects customers from nuisance and privacy violations.  

Pumping Traffic​

Traffic pumping involves increasing local exchanges in domestic networks, to profit from compensation fees that are set by governmental agencies.  

Given certain international laws, big telcos often have to pay special fees to local providers; ultimately meaning that increased numbers of calls result in increased payouts to local providers. While this form of fraud is greatly specific to national and international regulations, certain anti-fraud solutions are able to monitor and recognize these pumped traffic rates.  

Subscription Fraud​

Subscription fraud in the telecommunication sector involves criminals using stolen identities and credit card information to sign up for phone contracts. While these contracts usually require Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, fraudsters easily circumvent this using fake IDs. They particularly target high-end smartphones, which they jailbreak and sell in second-hand markets. By the time the repossession company arrives, they discover that the contract holder doesn’t exist. The pace of fraudsters has notably increased, making the ‘game of catch’, next to impossible without autonomous antifraud software. Fraudsters typically obtain stolen identities through phishing, dark web purchases, or by renting them from ID mules. Interestingly, in-store purchases present a higher risk than shipments, as fraudsters can easily walk in and pick up devices in person. Here, carriers must set financial limits to limit mitigate the damage. Once again, although simple, this idea can come with complicated implications.

SMS ATP - AGT (Artificially Generated Traffic)​

SMS A2P AGT, or Artificially Generated Traffic, refers to the mass production and dissemination of SMS messages via automated systems. This practice, especially prevalent in Application 2 Person (A2P) messaging, poses several risks. Companies can find themselves inadvertently involved in disputes over such traffic, risking substantial financial losses in high-value disagreements.  

The competitiveness of the SMS market further exacerbates this issue, as it creates a breeding ground for potential manipulation of message traffic. Often, this form of fraud is dominated by major industry players, making it a challenging landscape for smaller companies to ensure that it does not pass through their system. 

To safeguard against these risks, it is crucial for businesses to thoroughly review and align the terms in their customer and vendor contracts. Regular monitoring of message traffic, employing advanced SMS fraud prevention systems to identify and potentially block anomalies, is essential. This can be done easily, using autonomous learning models; as we offer at Sinapsio.

We believe companies must adopt a proactive stance in their approach to these challenges, focusing on prevention rather than reaction and we warn that companies must be wary of the pitfalls of greed in such a high-stakes environment. 

Phishing & Smishing​

As discussed in subscription fraud, fraudsters often use phishing to steal user identities. SMS phishing in particular is done by mass sending SMSs prompting the delivery of personal information. The campaigns are major risks to telcos as well as customers, especially in rise of software that allow fraudsters to go undetected. Today, fraudsters are capable to specify their mass messaging only to mobile numbers whom they can specifically identify, they can create auto-shops to market their stolen information and have even developed their own hosting sites and marketplaces. Regardless, in most regulatory systems of today, MNOs are not allowed to read SMS content without court orders, making it hard to effectively scan and monitor phishing. To truly find the risk, MNOs would have to read the content of the messages, to truly be able to find patterns and irregularities.  

This form of fraud is considered social engineering, which has seen a major rise since the start of the COVD-19 pandemic. Since smishing and phishing have almost tripled, telcos have seen a major decline in customer trust and safety and have chosen to invest increasingly more in anti-fraud solutions, to keep this risk in limits.

Solutions: limit each number and how many calls it can do, and how much u can spend

Telco Arbitrage​

Arbitrage, or the method of capitalising on the differences in market prices, involves manipulating long-distance rates between nations.Similar to bypass fraud, this method involves lowering the cost for international calls, by going through cheaper–rate nations, instead of the supposed direct connection from calling to receiving network. This also often includes decreased call quality and can thus cause lower customer satisfaction for operators.

What will the future landscape of fraud look like? Should we be more scared?​

Several innovations have changed the market for telco operators but have also broadened the playing field for fraudsters. Current market trends are shaped by the rise of virtual or e-SIM cards, an increase in A2P authentication messaging and calls, the rise of synthetic IDs, and the increased use and advancement of AI.In brief:

• Virtual SIM Cards (eSIM): are harder to lose or get stolen, but more prone to social engineering attacks than regular SIM cards. As this is a new product, eSIMs have posed additional risks and uncertainties in the market due to their low degree of boundaries.

• A2P Authentication Messaging and Calls: are deployed at increasing rates, prompting the increase in social engineering attacks and smishing.

• Synthetic / Fake IDs: Fraudsters are using a variety of methods to acquire fake or synthetic IDs, including phishing. Detecting synthetic ID fraud has become more challenging because these IDs often contain some legitimate components but is becoming increasingly more feasible using detective AI.

• AI-generated Telco Fraud: In 2023, while artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to play a crucial role in fraud detection, researchers have raised concerns about these technologies aiding fraudsters. We have discussed this increase previous articles here. Here, we see an ever increase in speed both in terms of the expansion of fraud and in the variation and pace of change. This is largely due to the abilities of AI to make complex models that are adaptive to antifraud technologies.

• Fake A-Numbers and the Power of Voice Deepfakes: With the power of AI voice deep faking and the simplicity of using Fake-A numbers, fraudsters can create reality-like schemes to customers, thereby posing a major risk.

In conclusions, we must not be scared, we must be prepared.The key is to be adaptable and willing to change our strategies and tactics to stay ahead of fraudsters who are continuously evolving their methods.

What do other industry professionals think?​

The GLF Fraud Report reveals that 61% of carriers have noted a rise in the significance of anti-fraud and fraud management in 2023. The report emphasizes that, without adequate fraud prevention efforts, the carrier industry risks becoming obsolete. It warns that if trust is lost, customers will turn to alternative communication methods, abandoning traditional calls and SMS.

In fact, this is the third year in which more than ⅔ of the global operators are increasing their investments in anti-fraud, but unfortunately not all investments are efficient to the modern levels and types of fraud.

How Can Sinapsio prevent Fraud?​

Facing complex challenges, operators must use comprehensive and preventative antifraud solutions. Sinapsio offers autonomous and all-encompassing solutions. And better yet, we offer free trials of our products.

In the dynamic telecom landscape, fraudsters and businesses continually devise new schemes to exploit vulnerabilities, causing significant financial and reputational damage to operators and consumers alike. Increasingly carriers are facing the risks posed by Wangiri and flash calls, which are hard but not impossible to stop. The danger of these attacks are specifically large considering this fraud is hard to distinguish from regular traffic although fraudsters have a broad victim(customer)–base and can cause major revenue and reputation losses. Solutions like Sinapsio are at the forefront of battling such deceptive practices with advanced AI-based solutions.

Understanding Wangiri Fraud​

Wangiri Fraud is not a novel concept but has evolved with technology. Originating from Japanese language, "Wangiri" means "one (ring) and cut." The scam involves a fraudster calling a number and hanging up after one ring, prompting the curious recipient to call back. These return calls often redirect to premium-rate numbers, incurring hefty charges that benefit the scammer.

According to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA), this type of fraud was among the top five methods causing an estimated loss of $2.23 billion to the telecom industry in 2021.

Despite its longstanding presence, Wangiri fraud remains persistent, intelligently mixed with organic traffic and thus evading detection. Overall, Wangiri (and its variants) is highly attractive to fraudsters:

• they incur very low costs (no charge on missed calls),

• it is spread over whole countries, even globally,

• loss per single customer is not so relevant (but in total it is in billions)

• no direct loss for telecoms ( but loss of reputation, trust etc)

Often, Wangiri is seen as a thing of the past. But do not be mistaken, this form of fraud still places second in the world’s most typical fraud risks. Wangiri attackers use a variety of strategies, beginning with traffic scanning, sending “waves” to flood carriers, and ultimately mixing and disguising it with normal traffic and simulating organic growth. Traditional systems, however, are not capable of combatting many forms of Wangari fraud. They are mostly reacting to CDR analysis and growing pressure on customer support. Thus, traditional anti-fraud systems simply cannot detect and see the attack happening in real-time. Besides the operators are facing a huge problem: how to distinguish good calls from malicious ones.

Simply blocking a certain originating breakout or the whole country can be effective yet damaging. Damaging, as good callers would also be punished, often leading to a situation where many countries would be blocked, causing degraded customer satisfaction and service quality. Furthermore, this solution can never be permanent, as fraudsters adapt their strategy faster than ever.

The Rise of Flash Calls​

While Wangiri calls are a fraud by its definition, “Flash calls” are very different and the clarity whether it is fraud or not is not that plausible. Having very similar behaviour on the signalling level, they share very little similarities in regards of their targeted result. They are typically associated with bypassing traditional SMS A2P streams, used for identity proof (usually associated with 2FA authentication).

Flash calls are a great example how technology and innovation can result in new schemes to exploit vulnerabilities, causing significant financial leakages for MNOs.

Flash-calls from different perspectives:

• they incur very low costs (no charge on missed calls),

• it is spread over whole countries, even globally,

• loss per single customer is not so relevant (but in total it is in billions)

• no direct loss for telecoms ( but loss of reputation, trust etc)

Now, the markets are cheering the new service while cornering MNOs, (miss)using their infrastructure for free and monetizing at the expense of the other.

While MNOs are the clear losers here, the question is what they can do to enforce a fair monetization – for the usage of their networking services.

The answer is rather simple: modern anti-fraud solutions are vital to ward off the dangers of flash calling.

According to Juniper, Flash Call volumes are set to increase by a 25-fold until 2026. Although some operators and firewall vendors consider them a form of SMS OTP bypass fraud, their classification as fraudulent varies. However, it is clear that these calls pose a major revenue leakage risk, as the brevity of flash calls makes them harder to trace.

Flash Calls - Are they fraud?​

The debate around flash calls, and their role in the industry is one that is greatly disagreed on within the industry and amongst regulators. Considering flash calls have no duration and are thus unbillable, many operators not even have a technical ability to consider the risk of these calls. This not only poses confusions to customers, reputation, and revenues, but also a risk to personal and informational safety; thereby further growing the risks.

• Many governments have not implemented regulation on flash calls for OTP delivery.

• The existing contractual relationships are not violated when flash calls are used, as these contracts were mostly drafted long before the adoption modern smartphones.

• loss per single customer is not so relevant (but in total it is in billions)

However, the choice of ignoring flash calls and delaying active measures, is often followed by decreased reputations, decrease in A2P messaging services and an overall decline in revenues. Thus, modern anti-fraud solutions are vital to ward off the dangers of flash calling.

Sinapsio's Response to Telecommunications Fraud​

To tackle these threats, Sinapsio's AI-driven tools provide a market-unique, real-time detection and prevention, adapting to new patterns of fraudulent activity. It's crucial for mobile network operators to integrate robust fraud prevention and monetization strategies into their 2023 business plans to protect their revenue and customer trust. It is vital that carriers stay one step ahead of Wangiri and Flash Fraudsters to protect their customers; which can easily be done with a system like Sinapsio’s. Sinapsio’s systems are designed to detect and analyse patterns consistent with Wangiri and flash call schemes. Moreover, our systems are capable of learning alongside fraudsters, updating our protective shield autonomously and constantly. Using real-time data, our solutions can identify and flag suspicious numbers, even when tactics shift, or new patterns emerge. As the telecommunication landscape continues to grow, vigilance against such schemes is paramount. Sinapsio remains at the forefront, harnessing the power of AI to safeguard the telecom industry from these fraudulent activities.

Why Traditional Anti-Fraud Systems Can Only Chase Today’s Fraud?​

As technology improves and AI evolves at the forefront of innovation, the methods of fraudsters are becoming ever harder to detect, prevent, and manage. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the rate of telco fraud has skyrocketed, with some reports indicating an annual increase of up to 30%, totalling to $3 trillion in 2021 alone. Thus, operators are reaching into the mastery of AI, to meet the problem directly at its very dynamic face, with AI driven anti-fraud solutions to combat modern fraud one step ahead, rather than running behind. Such is the Sinapsio Suite.

However, What Makes Today’s Fraudster so Powerful?​

Increasingly autonomous and high tech & sophisticated fraud-systems are accountable for an increasing share of disruptions in the telco world. Fraud strategies are getting more and more intelligent, such that traditional systems cannot even detect them while they result in large margin losses. The availability of widespread AI products alongside highly specialised machine learning tools creates new challenges, especially due to AI’s ability to absorb personal data through both voice and messages.

Fraudsters equipped with machine learning algorithms are extremely adaptive and elusive, forcing operators to either accept this ‘game of catch’ or to face some unpredictable consequences ranging from loss of margin and customers to constant disputes and various other worries. Worryingly, these hazards target a variety of operator infrastructure elements and show no signs of slowing down. Their large aggregation of data and its analysis, allows fraudsters to cultivate and evolve the best attacking-methods, often autonomously. Due to the adaptive powers of these technologies, the realm of threats is transforming at an unexpected rate, demanding for highly resilient and agile fraud-prevention tactics. Especially in conventional systems, it has become next to impossible to prevent today’s innovative attacks.

Thereby, unprotected operators are risking not only their customer’s integrity and trust in them, but also an ultimate fragility to ruined reputations, increased overhead expenses, and major bandwidth and revenue losses.

How can Telcos Protect Themselves in this changing fraud landscape?​

Real Time Fraud Management​

While AI-generated and machine learning-based fraud is changing the telco landscape at an unprecedented scale, it has also provided a wide array of opportunities for larger-scale and more adaptive solutions to avoid fraud. While traditional anti-fraud can be an essential bottom-line, it does not enforce utmost safety. Firstly, conventional anti-fraud systems are significantly slower, as they cannot process such large amounts of data simultaneously, thereby limiting its ability to identify patterns and anomalies instantaneously. This multi-layered analysis means that several of levels of data, ranging between user behaviour, data traffic, voice, and signalling traffic, are analysed simultaneously; catching even the most elaborate fraud perpetrators.

Self Learning Abilities​

In todays telco market, operators face a great need for real time data processing and there-upon Real-Time-Fraud Prevention, as the scope of fraud changes at paces never seen before. However, this does not suffice at a daily or weekly basis. Monitoring, adapting, and changing must be a constant process; that holds step with the changing challenge. As generally known, the powers of AI lie in its self-developing and optimising powers. Unlike traditional methods, AI can analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, adapting and optimizing its algorithms autonomously, at any given hour of the day. This allows for quicker and more precise adjustments, outpacing the speed and accuracy of human-led modifications. Thereby, AI can entirely keep up with the changing pace of the opponents autonomously, at a humanly unimaginable rate, in terms of both cost and time-consumption.

Autonomous Reaction​

Today, we can dare to say that traditional systems are perpetually behind. The markets degree of unpredictability has made traditional NOC systems too slow, in comparison to automated systems. While traditional anti-fraud systems inform the operator about its findings, there is a beyond acceptable time frame for damage to be done during human reaction time. In these time window, fraudsters can even change their strategy and adopt instantly. However, AI can react autonomously, in real time. AI has the power to be a few steps ahead of the fraud, instead of constantly chasing it. Based on past patterns, AI can autonomously react to new fraud techniques, using its machine-learning algorithms. These solutions are responsive and adaptive, unlike traditional methods that solely focus on pre-provided specifications and human judgement. This essentially means that firms employing AI-based fraud prevention can grow their defensive shields along with the increasing fraud threats, as AI solutions are far more scalable. Traditional fraud prevention schemes often produce false positives, thereby withholding a positive client experience, by minimising false warnings to customers.

So what can operators do to protect their networks?​

In the world of tech-driven fraud, operators have no alternatives but to act preventatively. This includes promoting real-time fraud monitoring and developing fast-paced and highly integrated reporting systems; to not only catch but also prevent fraud instantaneously. The essential mindset of anti-fraud departments must lie in being ahead of the danger, rather than reacting to it, as it will have changed and evolved before protective shields are developed.

Conclusion​

There is much there can be done by telco operators to protect themselves from the evolving Fraud. However, with todays attacks, traditional anti-fraud methods cannot ensure 24/7 real-time protection, as even the strongest traditional systems still require operators to chase fraud, rather than block it ahead of time.

Thus, AI solutions are not only faster and more efficient at detecting the accurate frauds that occur on operator’s networks but evolve ahead of the rising dangers. Ultimately, AI solutions like those offered by Sinapsio are inevitable to prevent revenue losses while simultaneously saving long term costs.

Sinapsio offers comprehensive AI-powered solution, to target AI-based attacks. We are armed with cutting-edge technology and expertise, allowing us to tackle fraud head-on, ensuring the telecom business remains resilient in the face of evolving threats.

We Tackle AI Fraud – with Smarter AI.​

Sinapsio’s suite includes separate modules, that work robustly together and can be integrated into any telco infrastructure. The modules are perfectly orchestrated and work silently in the background.

• Sinapsio-Nexus Premier Call Quality & A-Number Manipulation Detection, ensuring proactive threat detection, predictive analytics, and seamless integration.

• Synapsio-Lock Advanced AI-Powered SIMbox Bypass Detection Solution that provides granular access control and unparalleled protection.

• Sinapsio-Wall Innovative AI-Powered SMS Firewall, allowing advanced SMS filtering, zero-day fraud pattern detection, and uninterrupted communication security.

• Sinapsio-Guard Ultimate Defense Against Wangiri Calls, providing AI-driven fraud pattern recognition, immediate response, and 24/7 vigilant monitoring.

In combination, these 4 pillars provide precisely the active and immediate responsiveness that is needed to combat any modern and even AI-generated fraud.

All, while allowing operators to maintain the optimal customer experience and security while critically cutting revenue losses by focusing on the future of anti-fraud; fraud-prediction and pre-emptive action.

Telco is essential in today’s world – we all know safe and reliable communication channels keep the world’s economies going. However, telco operators and clients face a persistent adversary – fraud. Further, traditional anti-fraud methods are struggling against today’s sneaky fraudsters, leaving networks, revenues, and customers at risk.

Enter Sinapsio, our innovative fraud detection system designed to identify and combat fraudulent activities in real-time, with complete autonomy and ease. Today we introduce you to our founders, Emir Tresnjo and Nikola Jevtic, who have been gathering expertise in the industry for decades but are secretly professional basketball players.

We bring you an interview, where we dive into why Sinapsio was created, what sets us apart, and talk about our founders journeys as they tell us about what they like the most in their jobs.

Why We Need Sinapsio - What inspired the creation of Sinapsio?​

Our founders have the same perspective based on the knowledge the team has gathered – Sinapsio exists because telco needs a different – better, more accurate and cost friendly approach – to anti fraud.

Emir: Well, that is a good question. Creation of Sinapsio was a long process, with a lot of learning. Betatel created Sinapsio to combat the huge issue that telco is facing on fraud. Every day we spent in the industry we say that there was a missing piece of safety in the market, so we had this purpose to make communications safer and protect retail users from any danger.

Nikola: We have been in the telco industry for a long time. Each of the partners had a somewhat different experience and background. What was common for all of us was that we were well aware of the existence of telco fraud. We were facing it every day and fighting it on a small scale using various techniques. From firewall rules, database scripts, black–white lists, etc. There has been a discussion from time to time on the topic of fighting fraud detected on traffic that we had running. At one point we decided to create a project that would combine tools and methods that we have been using so far, and create a universal tool that will do fraud detection in a real-time. Our goal was to protect us, as well as our partners from malicious calls. Also, we wanted to create an image of ourselves to be a company that has zero tolerance for fraud. And it worked.

We Are Different - How does Sinapsio differentiate itself from other fraud detection systems?​

Both Emir and Nikola say it simply. Sinapsio’s key selling points target exactly the missing pieces of traditional anti fraud; the aspect of offering a real time protection solution.

Emir: We are innovative with the technology we deploy and how we use it to offer a real time solution- thats what is really our key differentiation. Our aim was to leverage AI to offer real-time, autonomous fraud detection, moving beyond the reactive measures that have become industry standard. As an anti fraud system, Sinapsio has a major focus on REAL TIME fraud prevention. What that means for our customers, is that Sinapsio is not just a prevention system, but it is also a preemptive system: meaning it does not allow fraudsters to have any business case to even start with.

Nikola: Firstly, it is a result of our own experience, not a copycat or reverse-engineered piece of software. So by default, it had to be unique. Second, we noticed that the speed at which we were getting results was really high. It was sufficient to try to use it at the same time the call was received before it has been answered. Hence, by definition, it was a real-time protection. After creating a core of the product engine, and testing it, we have decided to go with the creation of a full-blown product, with API, add-ons, storage database, powerful searches, frontend, reports, and much more.

We Can Be Proud - What are you the proudest of since Sinapsio’s launch?​

Our founders are not only basketball players – but basketball (and general) team members. And, they love to grow and develop – until the product became perfect.

Emir: Personally, the journey for Sinapsio has brought me closer to my team that combats fraud on the daily basis. I enjoy learning about my teams’ and clients’ experiences and problems, to create new solutions that focus on the key pain points. This is what we work to be at Sinapsio; the customers’ solution.

Nikola: Let’s start with the bad news first. We had downtimes and crashes for the first few months after launching. It made us think about and create a powerful availability design. Also, because we had outages during the night, we had to create an automated recovery system that ran in case of unpredicted errors. Since then, we had installations that run for years, without a need for an intervention. Now, we have systems that have been automatically updated through continuous integration, and that are running literally for years without an error.

What We Love - What is your favourite part about your job at Sinapsio?​

We love our clients. We love to work for and with our clients and partners.

Emir: The social aspect. Thats the simple and straight forward answer. My job enables me contacts with people all over the world, which also gives me an opportunity to develop personal connections with these people. Through Sinapsio – and Betatel- I’ve developed some lasting friendships and meaningful connections to our partners and clients alike, from which I have learned and grown significantly.

Nikola: It would be the challenges that we have faced through the development and adaptation of the software. Each customer has slightly different requests and needs, and creating easily adaptable software has been a difficult task that we are constantly facing. And, of course, the satisfaction that we get when seeing fraudsters giving up on attempts is one of the little things that makes our day.

A Tech Question - How does the Sinapsio suite ensure high call quality while preventing Wangiri calls?​

Nikola: Our focus has always been on keeping a call quality high. We were struggling to keep PDD (delay time) at a minimum, while still providing real-time protection. We changed the databases and models we were using several times until we reached a satisfactory response time under high traffic flow. To achieve that, we had to develop a testing system that could show us any potential flow in a system design. Also, there was an out-of-the-box approach that I would like to keep a secret at this time.

Bringing Sinapsio to You - What are the key benefits of integrating Sinapsio's solutions into a telecom company's existing infrastructure?​

Emir: By integrating Sinapsio in your infrastructure, you will gain access to an almost instant overview over your traffic. Because the system is actively reacting in real time, you will almost instantly have reactions your network. While this is not only vital for protection, it is also amazing and highly rewarding to see the immediate impact with such comfort.

For more information on Sinapsio and our revolutionary approach to fraud prevention, we invite you to visit Sinapsio .

Sinapsio leads the charge in telecom fraud prevention with a proactive, AI-driven approach. As telecom fraud evolves rapidly, operators must respond swiftly. Sinapsio’s expertise enables real-time fraud detection from the moment a call is placed, learning and adapting continuously to outsmart fraudsters.

Our defense process is built on four key pillars​

• Signaling Stage Firstly, in the Signaling stage of calls, Sinapsio’s proactive stance is a powerful tool, as we operate directly within the call path to evaluate and make real-time decisions during call setup. This immediate action ensures that potential fraud is intercepted before it can impact the network. While this does not disturb those placing the call and it requires no intervention from clients, Sinapsio can already defect and prevent fraud autonomously from the first seconds.

• During call duration Sinapsio’s vigilance extends throughout the call duration, where the system continuously monitors for anomalies, maintaining an unwavering guard against fraud. This persistent oversight ensures that any suspicious patterns are swiftly detected and addressed.As patterns change, Sinapsio’s AI learns and adapts, changing our defense in advance to any larger revenue or safety losses for our customers. And patterns change faster than ever today, making agile antifraud systems a necessity.

• Call post-processing Once the call ends, our third stage begins. In the third stage, Call Post-Processing, Sinapsio pioneers the market due its dynamic learning capabilities. By processing vast amounts of data, the system not only responds to current threats but also adapts to anticipate future ones. This learning aspect is integral to Sinapsio’s strategy, ensuring long-term protection, in a constantly evolving environment of threats.

• Analytics dashboard Once the call ends, our third stage begins. In the third stage, Call Post-Processing, Sinapsio pioneers the market due its dynamic learning capabilities. By processing vast amounts of data, the system not only responds to current threats but also adapts to anticipate future ones. This learning aspect is integral to Sinapsio’s strategy, ensuring long-term protection, in a constantly evolving environment of threats.

Sinapsio’s methodical approach to fraud prevention, marked by these four pillars, defines its uniqueness in the industry. It is essential to understand, that this uniqueness defines the safety of our clients in comparison to traditional antifraud solutions. Clients can experience a meticulously managed product that promises and delivers a secure, high-quality communication service without the need for direct oversight. Sinapsio embodies the next generation of autonomous, real-time fraud detection and prevention, that has become essential in todays markets already.

How Can Sinapsio prevent Fraud?​

Facing complex challenges, operators must use comprehensive and preventative antifraud solutions. Sinapsio offers autonomous and all-encompassing solutions. And better yet, we offer free trials of our products.