[AusNOG] "Telstra" scammers

Sun Feb 21 22:19:35 EST 2021

There are a few improvements Australian telcos could really do with putting in.. STIR/SHAKEN <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STIR/SHAKEN> for caller ID spoofing is one.. ENUM is another that I think would be useful[1] (they did a trail about 15 years ago now[2] and, well, we don't use ENUM - so that tells you how that went)

I was surprised to see Telstra in the news for blocking spam/scam calls the other day.. They might be making improvements, yes - but we are still behind globally on this

Side note: is there anything like AusNOG but for telco? And/or any forums/sites/mailing lists where people from the Australia telco industry discuss telco topics? AusNOG and this guys blog are probably the only places I've seen/heard anyone discuss the telco industry (if you want to know how number porting works at all - short from reading the actual rules/laws - that blog has a some great details (link <https://nickvsnetworking.com/anatomy-of-local-number-portability-in-australia/> link <https://nickvsnetworking.com/more-porting-notes/>)) 

[1] I see ENUM as potential to assist/solve the fact that you have a single point of failure for inbound carriage.. If you have a TFN that can send calls between multiple telcos, then the TFN is the single point of failure..  Wouldn't be bad if porting becomes easier as a result of ENUM either..
[2] There are many dead links on the internet about this trail.. These [3 <https://lists.ripe.net/pipermail/enum-wg/2005-May/000326.html>][4 <http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/ENUM0507.html>] are the ones that I could find that work/had anything mildly interesting, and pointed me in the direction of Vince Humphries from ACMA who was able to provide some more insight into the trail (which I haven't completely read yet, but thank you Vince if you're out there!)

> On 21 Feb 2021, at 9:35 pm, Tim Dooley <tim.dooley at outlook.com> wrote:
> 
> Mind if I ask when this was, and who your au provider was? I know Telstra are properly restrictive
> 
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
> From: Damien Gardner Jnr <rendrag at rendrag.net>
> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2021 8:05:23 PM
> To: Jake Anderson <yahoo at vapourforge.com>
> Cc: AusNOG Mailing List <ausnog at ausnog.net>; Mark Andrews <marka at isc.org>; Tim Dooley <tim.dooley at outlook.com>
> Subject: Re: [AusNOG] "Telstra" scammers
>  
> At ${job-1}, we had a bunch of VOIP services at offices in AU, NZ, US, GB, IE.  AU was the ONLY place where we could present ANY caller ID we wanted. Everywhere else our VOIP provider required a copy of our phone bill proving we owned the phone numbers we wanted to present as caller ID, if we had not ported those numbers to the VOIP provider.  And that had to be refreshed every 12 months.
> 
> It’s always blown me away how loose .au is on handling spoofing on phone services.
> 
> —DG
> 
> On Sun, 21 Feb 2021 at 9:00 pm, Jake Anderson <yahoo at vapourforge.com <mailto:yahoo at vapourforge.com>> wrote:
> You know how pretty much everybody seems to have implemented spoofing 
> controls on IP's exiting their networks?
> People need to get on that for the phone side (whilst yes exceptions 
> should be allowed you really should need to prove it's your number). If 
> it needs regulation to force it then so be it.
> 
> Also, I ask them if their mother knows they are criminals trying to 
> steal from old ladies.
> They get very upset by this as a rule.
> 
> My 95 year old grandmother is still getting 3-5 "nbn your phone will be 
> disconnected at midnight" calls per week.
> 
> 
> On 19/02/2021 7:54 am, Mark Andrews wrote:
> > Well at least with the NBN rollout basically done I haven’t heard from “Nicole from NBN”
> > saying my phone is going to be cut off if I don’t do something in a while.
> >
> > Whats needed is a simple way to report “the last call to this line was a scam” so the
> > calls can be traced back to their source along with a legislated requirement to follow
> > the call trail back to its source.   I get several calls like this a day from
> > “Telstra NBN”, “Mastercard Visa”, “E-Bay and suspicious iPhone purchase”, etc.  It’s
> > so common that my wife looks at the caller-id and says “It’s your girlfriend calling
> > again” from the number of times Nichole called.
> >
> > Unfortunately I need to field calls from unknown numbers for new members for Scouts, etc.
> >
> > I’ve even had them callback and ask why I hung up on them.  They really don’t like it when
> > I call the “crooks”, “criminals”, “scammers” etc.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >> On 18 Feb 2021, at 21:50, Tim Dooley <tim.dooley at outlook.com <mailto:tim.dooley at outlook.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >> While telecom companies such as Telstra are required to limit outbound calls from their SIP Trunks (ensuring you own the number you're trying to present), there are "IT" companies which offer SIP trunks without being a telco, this means they do not have to follow the same guidelines.
> >>
> >> Just 2 days ago I became aware of a scammer presenting a school's main number on outbound calls, being part of the team supporting the schools phone system I can guarantee the system wasn't hacked at all.
> >> There was no traffic from the school's phone system to Telstra during the time of the scam calls, however plenty of angry people were calling back yelling at the admin staff.
> >>
> >> so basically yes, a VoIP seller (yet not an official telco) putting zero security on the calling number.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Tim
> >>
> >> From: AusNOG <ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net>> on behalf of Darren Moss <Darren.Moss at cloud365.com.au <mailto:Darren.Moss at cloud365.com.au>>
> >> Sent: Thursday, 18 February 2021 3:45 PM
> >> To: Bradley Amm <brad at bradleyamm.com <mailto:brad at bradleyamm.com>>; AusNOG Mailing List <ausnog at ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog at ausnog.net>>
> >> Subject: Re: [AusNOG] "Telstra" scammers
> >>   
> >> How are they making calls into AU mobile networks ?
> >>   
> >> Surely they need a SIP service as a starting point.
> >>   
> >> Is it a VoIP seller not performing checks ??
> >>   
> >>   
> >> Darren.
> >>   
> >>   
> >> From: AusNOG [mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net>] On Behalf Of Bradley Amm
> >> Sent: Thursday, 18 February 2021 3:42 PM
> >> To: ausnog at ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog at ausnog.net>
> >> Subject: Re: [AusNOG] "Telstra" scammers
> >>   
> >> Unfortunately not a lot can be done
> >> I had a similar call today. Just blocked the numbers.
> >> Probably a spoofed number as well
> >>   
> >>   
> >> From: AusNOG <ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net>> On Behalf Of Kai
> >> Sent: Thursday, 18 February 2021 12:34 PM
> >> To: ausnog at ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog at ausnog.net>
> >> Subject: [AusNOG] "Telstra" scammers
> >>   
> >> Just had a scam call from a female operator, called from "0432 594 523" (probably a spoofed number), says her name is Selina from Telstra, that my modem has a virus. She gave her Telstra staff ID as C0527 (that's not a real Telstra staff ID, it starts with a 0 and it's too short) and hung up when I asked what her Team Leader or Manager's name and staff ID is.
> >>
> >> So the "Telstra scammers" are still out there, trying to scam people.
> >> Parasites.
> >>   
> >> Sent from my smartphone.
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> AusNOG mailing list
> >> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net>
> >> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog <http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog>
> 
> 
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> -- 
> Damien Gardner Jnr
> VK2TDG. Dip EE. GradIEAust
> rendrag at rendrag.net <mailto:rendrag at rendrag.net> -  http://www.rendrag.net/ <http://www.rendrag.net/>
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