2017 Call Centre Fraud Report – UK falls victim to international criminal gangs as borderless phone fraud rises
According to Pindrop® Labs’ Research, Fraudsters cashing in as the average loss per call jumps from £0.51 to £0.86 over the last 12 months
The rise in fraudulent calls made to the UK by international criminal gangs has almost doubled in the last 12 months.
According to a new report from fraud protection and authentication company Pindrop, 52 per cent of fraudulent calls made to UK financial institutions in 2016 originated from countries outside of the UK. This is up 24 per cent compared to 2015, indicating the growing prominence of call centre fraud as an international crime.
Matt Peachey, Vice President and General Manager, Pindrop International comments:
“Our research has found that criminals are branching out and attacking UK financial organisations and their customers, across international lines.
This highlights the need for organisations to get a better understanding of criminals who are using the phone, to ultimately steal from customers.”
Using its patented Phoneprinting™ technology, Pindrop analysed millions of calls to UK call centres, compiling the findings into the 2017 Call Centre Fraud Report. Of the calls analysed it was also found that almost none of the calls hitting UK call centres originated from landlines.
According to the 2017 report, almost 90 per cent of fraudulent calls made to the UK used mobile phones and internet calls, suggesting these go-to tools for fraudsters have further facilitated the international reach of the calls made. Fraudsters are also using spoof caller ID tools and distortion apps to disguise their voices and conceal their location so that their identity and source of the call remains hidden from call centre agents.
Combined, these techniques have created more opportunities for profit, as fraudsters walked away with more money per call in 2016. Pindrop® Labs’ research shows that the average loss per fraud call in the UK jumped up to £0.86, a sharp increase from the £0.51 per call in 2015.
Peachey continues: “Fraudsters are getting better at their craft, honing their skills and becoming more confident at using techniques to bypass current defences on the phone channel. Organisations need to be just as vigilant on what has consistently been a neglected entry point, in the same way they do with their online channels. This rise in borderless fraud via the phone serves as a stark warning – organisations are leaving their customers vulnerable to attack. A better line of defence on this channel is needed.
“With a multi-layered approach to authentication, organisations can quickly and accurately identify the risk factors that can better track fraud attempts across multiple channels and quickly detect where these attempts originate.”
Additional Information
Pindrop is the pioneer in voice security and authentication. Pindrop provides enterprise solutions to reduce fraud losses and authentication expense for some of the largest call centers in the world. Pindrop’s patented Phoneprinting™ technology can identify, locate and authenticate phone devices uniquely just from the call audio thereby detecting fraudulent calls as well as verifying legitimate callers. Pindrop has been selected by the world’s largest banks, insurers, brokerages and retailers, detecting over 80 percent of fraud, even for attackers never seen before. Pindrop® solutions are allowing customers to reduce call time and improve their customer’s experience even while reducing fraud losses. Pindrop was founded in 2011 and is venture backed by Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, Citi Ventures, Felicis Ventures, GV and IVP.
To download the Pindrop 2017 U.K. Call Centre Fraud Report Click Here
