CTIA WIRELESS '98, ATLANTA — Bell Atlantic Mobile marked another year of successful fraud reduction in 1997, decreasing its home and roaming cellular fraud losses by 74 percent, with total fraud losses reaching an all time low in December. Keys to Bell Atlantic Mobile's success were its continued deployment of Authentication and RF Fingerprinting technologies, combined with its successful launch of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital technology -- which now covers more than 75% of the company's POPs.
"When we rolled out our DigitalChoiceSM CDMA service last year, we gave our customers an extra layer of protection against fraud," said Eileen Creeden, director-fraud control. "The inherent fraud protection that CDMA digital offers, combined with the fraud protection that Authentication and RF Fingerprinting provide, pack a one-two-three punch to potential fraudsters."
Bell Atlantic Mobile's aggressive fraud prevention program is based on a three-pronged approach -- prevention, detection, and prosecution. Fraud prevention centers around implementing network solutions to stop fraud before it affects the customer. The second approach to fighting cellular fraud is early detection. The company's in-house fraud task force uses sophisticated fraud-detection software to alert customers and shut down cloners quickly. Lastly, Bell Atlantic Mobile aggressively pursues the prosecution of cellular cloners and dealers of stolen equipment. The company provides training, support, and assistance to local, state, and federal law enforcement officials and employs private investigation firms to jointly combat the problem.
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