Mechanism for a system and method for detecting fraudulent use of

Abstract

A method and system for detecting and preventing the fraudulent use of phone services in which the recipient of a telephone call is responsible for charges only after they agree to accept the telephone call is disclosed herein. The system and method includes a mechanism for detecting the initiation of a telephone call, wherein associated with the telephone call is a telephone number. The present invention searches a database for a prior occurrence of the telephone number. If the telephone number is found in the database, the information in the database associated with the telephone number is analyzed to determine if the telephone call is fraudulent. The system and method compares the information in the old record with a threshold to determine if the telephone call is fraudulent. The system and method completes the telephone call if the step of comparing determines the telephone call is not fraudulent in response to the step of comparing. The present invention updates the old record with the information for the telephone call if the step of searching finds an old record of a prior occurrence of the telephone number and the telephone call is rejected by the telephone call recipient. The present invention creates a record of the telephone call if the telephone number is not found in the database, and the telephone call is rejected by the recipient.