By Keri Algar

PERTH, WA: Over $70,000 in excess call charges have so far been pilfered from three Perth businesses by phone hackers who attacked the business’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.

The Western Australian Police said international criminals identify vulnerable phone systems worldwide and are more likely to hack into them during the weekend to make thousands of international calls to premium numbers, often their own in order to make a profit. 

Many Perth businesses are not properly secured against potential attacks, in some cases, using factory default access pins and passwords, according to technology crime investigators from the western state.

Local internet security to prevent staff from visiting unauthorised sites has been a focus for businesses and the WA Police are encouraging companies to consider the need for stronger protection for their telecommunications network.

Click here to sign up for our FREE daily newsletter

By logging 11 million minutes of calls in December of 2010 alone, over $1 million have been scammed from networks in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Romania.