1 . MORE FRAUD PREVENTION
TRAINING Technology has an important role to play , but ultimately , fraud requires human-to-human interaction to be effective . That said , the opposite is equally true , so the more prepared your contact center personnel are for this , the less of an issue this will be . Both agents and supervisors need to be more attuned to the various types of fraud , along with the tactics used by fraudsters .
The bigger the brand , the bigger the target for fraudsters , but this also means smaller brands may think it won ’ t happen to them . That ’ s exactly what fraudsters want them to think , making them even easier marks since they won ’ t be prepared for it .
As consumers , when suspicious-looking calls come in , we simply don ’ t answer , so no harm is done . Contact centers , however , have to answer every incoming call , so agents must be on constant alert , with a clear sense of the red flags to be watching for .
2 . DEPLOY MORE AI TOOLS
FROM YOUR VENDORS To be fully prepared , contact centers need the right technology capabilities to support their agents and supervisors .
If you ’ re not deploying artificial intelligence ( AI ) yet , fraud detection is one of the strongest use cases for it , especially if this has been an ongoing issue . If your current vendor doesn ’ t have these capabilities , then you ’ ll need to look further afield . All contact center vendors have an AI story now , but you need to find out what specific applications they have for mitigating fraud .
Key capabilities would include machine learning to detect speech patterns used by fraudsters and voice biometrics to validate the caller ’ s identity with the
TELECOM FRAUD
customer they are claiming to be . These technologies aren ’ t foolproof , but as with all things AI , they get better the more you use them . The more datasets you have to work with , the better the results will be over time , so a bit of patience is needed .
As those capabilities are being finetuned , always keep in mind that the strategic value of AI is the ability to process vast amounts of data and make it usable in real time .
This means that every agent will have this support for every call , and when red flags are detected , they ’ ll be alerted in real time . That ’ s a vast improvement over how contact centers handle fraud with legacy technologies . And keep in mind that when you ’ re no longer an easy target , the fraudsters will quickly move on to find other marks .
Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates , an independent analyst practice providing thought leadership about the business-level impact of digital transformation on the future of work . Core areas of expertise include unified communications , collaboration , cloud platforms ( UCaaS , CCaaS and CPaaS ), contact centers , and customer experience .
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