One fraud committed against VoIP providers is particularly cunning and carries a hefty price tag for losses. It goes like this: a person sets up as a carrier in a foreign country. Typically those who commit this fraud choose a country with lax registration laws. The thief sets the completion rate for their block of numbers to a hefty fee. Then he or she signs up for an account with a North American VoIP carrier (committing fraud again by using a stolen credit card). The thief then places a high number of calls using the VoIP provider to their foreign set of numbers. The VoIP provider is responsible to pay the completion charges for the high number of calls. These charges can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This type of fraud is committed on a regular basis; and smaller VoIP providers are at a real risk as many have yet to grow large enough to warrant the necessary monitoring staff.

Another VoIP fraud issue to be aware of is that of caller identification. As a caller can alter elements that identify them or give their location, it is possible for someone making fraudulent calls over a VoIP network to use this to their advantage. One example is for the caller to call posing as a local bank, cable network, etc. An unwary victim could be tricked into giving personal information, credit card numbers and so on. This information could then be used for further fraud. The issue here is that the caller can change information to create a sense of security for the victim; the caller says he is from the bank, and the caller ID says the call is coming from the bank. Another example is to use the same scam to get the victim out of the house for the purpose of breaking and entering.

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