Fraud Prevention in the Contact Center

In the first post in this series about the rise of the modern fraudster, we explored how cybercriminals – the twenty-first century’s version of bank robbers – are continually looking for new opportunities to part consumers from their cash and credit.

As financial institutions layer on more security to prevent cyberattacks and online fraud, the criminals have begun looking for new ways to earn their dubious livings. In this post, we’ll explore the ways fraudsters are using call centers and self-service customer support technology to score.

Frank Abagnale spoke at this year’s EBT Next Generation Conference about Identity theft, and had two sound pieces of advice for everyone.  The first is to follow the money. The second is to think outside the box.

Who is Frank Abagnale and why should we listen to him?

Frank Abagnale was the subject of the movie Catch Me If You Can, and famously scammed the banks with check cashing schemes while also impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. He has since become an authority on identity theft working for the FBI for 40 years, and writing several books on identity theft, including Stealing Your Life in 2007. 

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.