Fraud investigators are often the unsung heroes in the fight against fraud within contact centres. Their work takes place mostly behind the scenes, yet their impact is profound, joining the dots to uncover hidden threats and preventing financial losses.
A common phrase we hear from organisations that come to us for help is: “We don’t know what we don’t know.” They suspect fraudsters are operating in their contact centres, but they are not sure where to look and what they are looking for.
Spotting the red flags
The first part of the puzzle is solved by the Smartnumbers platform. It monitors all incoming calls – both to the IVR and to agents – and looks for suspicious calls.
Calls are flagged and referred to fraud teams when they display one or more risk indicators, including:
- The number is on the company’s deny list
- The number appears on another Smartnumbers consortium member’s deny list
- Unusual calling patterns from the same number
Importantly, even withheld numbers can be identified and assessed, which is one of the key advantages of the Smartnumbers platform. In fact, our data shows that 43% of fraud-related calls come from withheld numbers.
Our data also shows that 68% of flagged calls originate from numbers that have targeted more than one consortium member, which highlights the importance of shared fraud data. As Smartnumbers onboards more organisations from different sectors, the pool of known fraudsters and the opportunities to spot them increases exponentially. Criminals who once hid in plain sight are being exposed.
Digging deeper
Once fraud investigators know where to look, they can start to dig. And this is where the real work begins.
When a number is flagged, investigators get to work asking crucial questions:
- What was the caller trying to do? Check a balance? Edit an account? Is the transaction unusual for the account?
- Is the caller targeting the IVR? Which account(s) are they calling about? How often have they called?
- Is the number used the one associated with the account?
- Has this number contacted us before? Could it be linked to other customer accounts?
- Do we recognise the caller’s voice? Is this voice profile associated with other numbers?
- Could the voice be associated with other numbers or profiles?
- Do other teams or organisations recognise this number?
From a single phone number, investigators can piece together a much larger picture of fraudulent behaviour, which may span other areas of the business, as well as other companies.
When a number is confirmed as linked to fraud, a detailed fraudster profile can be created or updated in the Smartnumbers platform and future calls can be blocked or diverted.
Protecting the ecosystem
When fraudulent activity is detected early, it’s often possible to intervene before any money is lost. For first-party fraud, blocking attempts can stop unauthorised transactions, and funds can sometimes be recovered.
For more details of the kind of fraud investigators have discovered with help from the the Smartnumbers platform, download the Smartnumbers Annual Fraud Review.
By linking automated contact centre attacks to wider activity in online banking and other channels, fraud investigators are strengthening their organisations’ fraud defences across the board.
By sharing intelligence through the Smartnumbers platform, maintaining accurate deny lists and up-to-date fraudster profiles, fraud investigators help protect not only their own organisations, but the wider community too.
