In today's business environment, security is vitally important, and security breaches across voice and data networks are growing by the day. One tool that can assist with security is a telecom expense management (TEM) system. Detecting internal or external toll fraud has escalated in priority for many CEOs in today's heightened security-conscious climate.

While new technologies like VoIP can improve phone systems performance, productivity and create massive cost savings for your organization, because it uses existing Internet infrastructure VoIP has the same vulnerabilities as data - it can be intercepted, captured or modified and must be secured.

According to a study by the American Society for Industrial Security, industrial espionage could account for potential losses for all American industry of as much as $63 billion. The actual dollar amount is heavily debated, but everyone agrees that the problem can't be taken lightly. Toll Fraud alone costs the American economy $5 billion annually.

Here are some scams that are currently in vogue with telecom scammers.

1. The do-not-call scam. The national "do-not-call" register was created to shield people from unwanted telemarketing calls. Now, however, some scam artists are using it to steal identities. Pretending to be from the registry, they call the person and claim they need to verify the person's identity and ask for a social security or bank account number in order to qualify for the registry.

2. The 809 scam. A person is contacted by pager, voicemail, fax or email and asked to call an 809 or 823 area code number. As it happens, these numbers originate in the Caribbean and are pay-per-call numbers, similar the 900 numbers in the U.S. These numbers can be set up to charge hundreds ort even thousands of dollars per minute! When you return such a call, naturally they will drag it out as long as possible.

3. The "cramming" scam. Cramming is where a phone company bills the customer for unwanted features or services.

4. The "slamming" scam. This is where the subscriber is switched to a different carrier without his consent. The client can then be billed for all sorts of extra features or less advantageous rates.

5. The call forwarding scam. The person receiving this call will be told he has won a sweepstakes prize. To claim the prize they are asked punch some numbers on their touch-tone phone. Unbeknownst to them this activates the call forwarding feature, which gives the caller free access to the victim's phone service, allowing him to make free long distance calls. The so-called winner now ends up paying for the scammer's calls.

6. The 9-0 scam. Businesses sometimes get called by someone pretending to be a telephone technician testing a new telephone feature, who asks to dial 9-0. This gives the scammer access to the corporate PBX system.

Clearly, telecom security is vital if a company wishes to protect its telecommunications. A telecom expense management system can provide valuable reports and alerts to detect and correct potential telecom abuse, as one of its functions.