Method and apparatus for providing fraud protection mediation in a mobile telephone system

The system and method of the present invention facilitates an improved Home Location Register (HLR) that includes a fraud protection mediation module for use in a mobile telephone system. The fraud protection mediation module operates in any one of the following situations: (1) a registration notice (REGNOT) is received by the HLR from a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) currently serving a subscriber in a roaming area; (2) a qualification request (QUALREQ) is received by the HLR from a serving MSC for obtaining a subscriber's profile; and (3) the HLR sends a qualification directive to a serving MSC, with the updated or modified profile of the subscriber. By using the improved HLR of the present invention, a carrier may have the HLR bypass the fraud protection processing in areas that support authentication processing to provide convenience to the subscribers so that they do not have to enter their PINs to use their cellular phones. Alternatively, if authentication processing is available, the cellular carrier may use fraud protection processing as a backup protection measure.