Voice fraud & compliance wiki
The telecom fraud & compliance glossary.
Plain-language definitions of the STIR/SHAKEN, FCC, fraud and SIP terms voice providers deal with every day — written for people who run switches.
Call Authentication 12 terms
STIR/SHAKEN
Secure Telephone Identity Revisited / Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENsThe caller ID authentication framework that lets voice providers digitally sign the calling number on IP calls so downstream networks can verify it was not spoofed.
Attestation Levels (A, B, C)
Full, Partial and Gateway attestationThe A, B, or C value a signing provider places in a SHAKEN token to state how much it knows about the caller and their right to use the calling number.
SIP Identity Header
The SIP header, defined in RFC 8224, that carries a signed PASSporT and a pointer to the signing certificate along with a call.
PASSporT
Personal Assertion TokenA signed JSON Web Token, defined in RFC 8225, that asserts the calling and called numbers and other call details for STIR/SHAKEN verification.
STI-PA
Secure Telephone Identity Policy AdministratorThe entity that applies the governance rules for STIR/SHAKEN in the United States, deciding which providers may obtain signing certificates and which certificate authorities are trusted.
STI-CA
Secure Telephone Identity Certification AuthorityA certification authority approved under SHAKEN governance to issue the X.509 certificates that voice providers use to sign calls.
STI-AS
Secure Telephone Identity Authentication ServiceThe function in an originating network that decides the attestation level for a call, builds the PASSporT, signs it, and adds the Identity header.
STI-VS
Secure Telephone Identity Verification ServiceThe function in a terminating network that checks the STIR/SHAKEN signature on an incoming call and reports whether verification passed or failed.
Proof of Possession
TN-PoP (telephone number proof of possession)Evidence that a caller or provider actually holds the right to use a telephone number, used to justify full attestation and to support delegated signing.
Branded Calling
Displaying verified business information, such as a company name, logo, or reason for calling, on the called party's device to improve trust and answer rates.
Rich Call Data
RCDCaller information beyond the number, such as a display name, logo, or call reason, conveyed in a signed form so the terminating network can trust and display it.
CNAM
Caller NameThe traditional caller ID name service, in which a terminating carrier looks up a short name associated with the calling number in a database and displays it.
Fraud Types 11 terms
Caller ID Spoofing
Deliberately presenting a calling number that the caller is not entitled to use, usually to disguise who is calling or to borrow the trust of a local or familiar number.
Robocall
A call made using an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice; some are lawful, but the term usually refers to unwanted or illegal automated calls.
International Revenue Share Fraud
IRSFA scheme in which fraudsters generate large volumes of calls to high-cost international or premium numbers and collect a share of the resulting termination revenue.
Wangiri
A "one ring and cut" scam that places brief missed calls from premium or high-cost numbers so recipients call back and generate revenue for the fraudster.
Toll Fraud
Unauthorized use of a phone system or voice account to make calls, usually expensive long-distance or international calls, that someone else ends up paying for.
PBX Hacking
Breaking into an on-premises or hosted phone system to place unauthorized calls, eavesdrop, or use it as a launch point for other fraud.
SIM Box Fraud
Interconnect BypassRouting international calls over the internet into a bank of local SIM cards so they terminate as cheap local mobile calls, bypassing official interconnect rates.
Traffic Pumping
Access StimulationArtificially inflating call volumes to a carrier that collects high access charges, typically by routing calls to free conference or chat lines, so the carrier can share the revenue.
Snowshoe Robocalling
Spreading a robocall campaign across many calling numbers, accounts, or providers so that no single number generates enough volume to trigger detection or blocking.
Vishing
Voice PhishingUsing phone calls to trick people into revealing credentials, payment details, or other sensitive information, often by impersonating a trusted organization.
Call Labeling
Tagging an incoming call with a warning such as "Spam Likely" or "Scam Risk" based on analytics, so the recipient can decide whether to answer.
FCC & Compliance 9 terms
Robocall Mitigation Database
RMDThe FCC database where voice service, gateway, and intermediate providers certify their STIR/SHAKEN status and file a robocall mitigation plan, under 47 CFR 64.6305.
Section 214 Authority
Authorization under Section 214 of the Communications Act that common carriers need to provide interstate or international telecommunications service, or to discontinue it.
Do Not Originate
DNOA list of telephone numbers that should never appear as the calling number on outbound calls, so calls presenting them can be blocked as almost certainly spoofed.
Traceback
The process of following a suspected illegal call hop by hop, from the terminating provider back through each upstream provider, until the originator is identified.
Industry Traceback Group
ITGThe industry consortium, operating under USTelecom, that the FCC has selected as the registered consortium to conduct private-led tracebacks of suspected illegal robocalls.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act
TCPAThe 1991 federal law that restricts telemarketing and automated calls and texts, requiring consent for many calls made with autodialers or prerecorded or artificial voices.
Know Your Customer
KYCThe process of verifying who a customer is and what they intend to do with voice service before and after onboarding, to keep illegal callers off the network.
FCC Safe Harbor
Protections the FCC has adopted that shield voice providers from liability when they block calls in good faith using reasonable analytics or specified criteria.
OCN
Operating Company NumberA four-character code that identifies a telecommunications company in industry databases and is required to obtain STIR/SHAKEN credentials.
SIP & Network 12 terms
SIP
Session Initiation ProtocolThe signaling protocol, defined in RFC 3261, used to set up, modify, and tear down voice and video calls over IP networks.
SIP Trunk
A virtual connection over IP between a customer's phone system or a partner network and a voice provider, used to carry SIP calls in place of traditional circuits.
Session Border Controller
SBCA network element at the edge of a VoIP network that secures, controls, and normalizes SIP signaling and media passing between networks.
Softswitch
Software that performs call routing, control, and billing functions in a VoIP network, replacing the hardware switches used in traditional telephone networks.
CDR
Call Detail RecordA record created by a switch for each call attempt, capturing details such as calling and called numbers, start time, duration, route, and outcome.
E.164
The ITU-T standard that defines the international telephone numbering plan, with numbers of up to 15 digits made up of a country code and a national number.
DID
Direct Inward DialingA telephone number that routes directly to a specific user, device, or service on a customer's phone system, commonly sold by VoIP providers in large quantities.
LRN
Location Routing NumberA ten-digit number that identifies the switch serving a ported telephone number, used in North America to route calls correctly after number portability.
Calls Per Second
CPSThe rate at which new call attempts are sent or received on a trunk or network, used both as a capacity limit and as a fraud and robocall signal.
Answer-Seizure Ratio
ASRThe percentage of call attempts that are answered, used as a key measure of route quality and as an indicator of unusual or abusive traffic.
Average Call Duration
ACDThe average length of answered calls over a period, used to gauge route quality and to spot traffic patterns associated with robocalls and fraud.
SIP 603 Decline
A SIP response code meaning the called party or network declined the call, used by providers to signal that a call was blocked as suspected unwanted traffic.
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