Fraud Prevention in the Contact Center

"Someone is using my name and Social Security number to open credit card accounts. All the accounts are in collections. I had no idea this was happening until I applied for a mortgage. Because these 'bad' accounts showed up on my credit report, I didn't get the mortgage."

In part one of this adaptive fraud prevention blog series, we revealed that one in 360 (1/360) calls are fraudulent and an alarming 25% of those fraudulent calls lead to the successful compromise of accounts. We also noted that 70% of call center fraud is committed by repeat offenders, according to Gartner.

As consumers continue to ditch their landlines in favor of mobile phones and less expensive voice over IP (VOIP) connections, fraudsters are finding new ways to exploit telephony technology for maximum financial gain.

Fraud presents a major threat to both the consumer and your business. Some tips to keep in mind:

1. Fraud is more dangerous than ever before. There is at least one mega-breach per quarter, with greater than 10 million customer records compromised, and the FBI estimates that more than 1000 retailers are currently under assault with the same malware used in the Target breach.

When it comes to financial crime, most of us still have a quaint, old-fashioned mental image of the traditional bank robber. A group of shady-looking men would arrive in a getaway car and empty the safe. It was easy to see them coming, and when they left, we knew they were gone. They even looked like we expected: dark clothes, masks and weapons drawn.  If only fraudsters fit that classic stereotype.