If it seems as though everybody in the technology industry is talking about fraud lately, it’s because a lot of people are—and for good reason. Fraud is everywhere, from IVR fraud to ecommerce fraud, to just about every facet of the tech industry, and other industries as well. Believe it or not, the call center is also a major hotspot for fraud, according to IDology’s 3rd Annual Fraud Report.
One of the reasons that fraud can be so widespread is that data breaches continue to be widespread, leading to many identities becoming available on black markets. In some cases, the stolen identity features such a complete set of information on an individual that the fraudster can impersonate that person perfectly, meaning the fraudulent user’s information aligns exactly with legitimate customer records.
With this level of information at their fingertips, fraudsters are able to accomplish more brazen acts of fraud, including call center fraud. Indeed, call center fraud has risen dramatically this year, with reporting of suspected call center fraud attempts making the jump from two percent in 2014 to 13 percent in 2015.
In many ways, it’s a logical escalation. Sure, more common areas like website and mobile fraud continue to be popular—after all, fraudsters don’t even have to make contact with another human being or reveal anything about themselves by logging into a website thanks to the power of Tor—but with a complete set of info to go off of, call center fraud may actually be the safer bet.
With many call center agents focused on reducing call times, a common call center metric, they are unlikely to question accurate information provided by a caller, even if done so in an overtly suspicious way. Besides, most people aren’t adept lie detectors, especially over the phone.
So what does this rise in call center fraud mean for the industry? It will likely mean two major changes in the short term: more widespread implementation of call center fraud prevention technology and a rethinking of call center agent protocols to put a greater focus on combating fraud. In addition, as the technology develops, voice biometrics will probably play a much larger role in call centers around the world in the next few years.