Fraud & Identity Featured Article

New Solution Fights Contact Center Fraud

By Alicia Young Web Editor

There are various types of fraud taking place all around the world. At any given moment, someone somewhere is being scammed out of their hard earned money or account information. One of the most detrimental forms of fraud that’s seen a rise in popularity lately is contact center fraud.

According to research firm Aite Group, by 2020 U.S. account takeover losses enabled by contact centers will reach $775 million, a 97 percent increase since 2015. This rise is caused by an increase in the adoption of EMV cards among consumers and the availability of personal information via social media. Additionally, data breaches have made contact centers prime targets for fraudsters.

“Contact centers have become the path of least resistance for organized criminals and fraudsters attempting account takeover,” said Shirley Inscoe, Senior Analyst at the Aite Group. “Segregating calls by utilizing real-time mobile carrier data to verify an incoming call is in session with the call center can be an effective way to mitigate fraud from spoofed calls. Doing this before the call goes to an agent makes it even more effective.”

Caller ID spoofing, for example, is an easy way for fraudsters to hide their true identities, masquerade as call center agents, and steal information. Likewise, fraudsters can call in to contact centers, pretending to be customers, in an attempt to steal information. To prevent this fraud without inconveniencing legitimate customers, businesses need the ability to accurately identify the legitimacy of incoming calls in real-time and escalate suspicious callers as needed.

In order to combat these issues in the contact center, IDology has announced its new multi-layered identity verification and fraud prevention solution: ExpectID Call Verification. Designed to protect contact centers against growing fraud threats, ExpectID Call Verification increases contact center productivity and reduces call wait times by leveraging real-time mobile carrier data to verify inbound call traffic into a contact center.

The solutions works by verifying that an incoming call is actually in session with the contact center. According to the announcement, this lessens the time agents typically devote to customer authentication, gives them more time to focus on servicing legitimate customers and reduces the risk of social engineering attacks.

With contact center fraud becoming more of a threat every day, it’s important for organizations to keep fraud top of mind. “Criminals and fraudsters see contact centers as low hanging fruit in their quest to access legitimate customer accounts,” said Chris Luttrell, Senior Vice President of Product, Client Solutions and Marketing at IDology. “Protecting contact centers has become mission critical for businesses as they strive to deliver a positive customer experience and increase productivity. IDology's contact center solutions not only help mitigate fraud, but also help contact centers become more efficient at handling call traffic.”