Patent ID: 9565220
Date: 2017-02-07
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04M

Claim:
1. A method of preventing fraud in an Internet Protocol (IP) based telephony service, comprising: receiving a call setup request to complete a call to or from a customer of the IP telephony service; determining, with a processor, if completing the requested call would result in charges being owed by customer; determining, with a processor, if the customer is authorized to conduct chargeable calls, wherein the determination of whether the customer is authorized to conduct chargeable calls is a determination about whether the customer is authorized to conduct chargeable using a soft phone client associated with the customer, and wherein the determination is based upon whether an IP based telephony device sent to the customer has been registered by the IP telephony service; completing the requested call if the requested call would not result in charges being owed by the customer, or if the customer is authorized to conduct chargeable calls; and terminating the call setup request without completing the call if the customer is not authorized to conduct chargeable calls and completing the call would result in charges being owed by the customer.