Returns are a standard part of retail, but they’re not without risks. Fraudulent returns can cost businesses a significant amount of losses annually. While restricting returns might seem like the only way to fight against retail fraud, there are better ways to help reduce fraud losses that don’t sacrifice the customer experience. 

Leveraging an advanced voice biometrics analysis solution can help protect customer accounts, spot fraudulent returns, and streamline the call experience. This article will explore the types of return fraud and how to combat it with advanced voice security.

Understanding return fraud

Return fraud involves customers exploiting return policies for personal gain. It comes in various forms, from returning stolen items to abusing liberal return policies. 

According to the National Retail Federation, return fraud costs billions annually and contributes to operational inefficiencies. Retailers often face challenges balancing customer satisfaction with fraud detection.

The most common types of fraud in retail include:

  • Receipt fraud: Customers use fake receipts or receipts from other items to return merchandise
  • Wardrobing: Buying an item, using it briefly, and returning it as “new”
  • Stolen goods returns: Returning stolen goods for refunds or store credits
  • Refund fraud: Manipulating the system to receive more than the value of the returned item

What is voice biometrics in retail?

Voice biometrics is a technology that identifies individuals based on unique vocal characteristics. It analyzes various features of a person’s voice, such as pitch, tone, and rhythm.

This technology can help protect retail contact centers from refund fraud, offering a secure and efficient means of verifying customer voices during transactions, including returns.

Unlike traditional authentication methods, such as passwords, voice biometrics provide an additional layer of security by leveraging something inherently unique to each individual—their voice. When used in tandem with other authentication factors, this advanced technology can assist retailers in combating fraudulent returns while helping create a faster and simpler returns process.

How voice biometrics can detect return fraud

Voice biometric analysis brings multiple benefits to retailers, helping to reduce fraud and improve operational efficiency. 

Real-time authentication

With voice biometrics, you can authenticate customers in real-time, helping to ensure that the person initiating a return is the purchaser. This technology can be particularly useful in contact centers, where authenticating customers through traditional methods is more challenging.

By using multifactor authentication, stores can drastically reduce fraudulent return attempts. This process also minimizes disruptions for genuine customers, maintaining a smooth and efficient return experience.

Fraud detection

Voice biometrics can identify suspicious behavior patterns by the individual attempting the return.

Multifactor authentication 

You can use voice biometrics as part of a multifactor authentication (MFA) approach, combining content-agnostic voice verification with other verification methods like PINs or SMS codes. 

With this approach, even if one method fails, or if some credentials are lost or stolen, you still have a method to detect fraudulent activity.

Secure transactions

Voice biometrics can help create a secure environment for customers during their transactions. Once the system receives authentication information on the customer, it can securely process the return, significantly reducing the chances of refund fraud. This helps protect the retailer from loss and can provide customers with peace of mind, knowing their information is securely handled.

Accelerating return transactions

When using traditional authentication methods, customers can often find the process tedious. Voice biometrics help speed up return transactions, as customers can skip more lengthy verification procedures.

This helps create a faster, hassle-free return process, contributing to a better overall customer experience.

Data protection

Retailers can use voice biometrics to enhance data protection protocols, maintaining their consumers’ trust.

Implementing voice biometrics in your retail system

Integrating voice biometrics into your retail system in a way that’s effective and user-friendly requires careful planning.

Evaluate current systems 

Start by evaluating your existing return processes and fraud detection strategies. Understanding where current vulnerabilities lie will help identify how voice biometric analysis can fill those gaps.

Select a reliable voice biometrics solution provider

Partnering with a reliable voice biometrics provider is crucial. Look for vendors with experience in retail security, a track record of success, and robust data protection measures.

Integrate voice biometrics seamlessly into retail systems

Ensure that voice biometrics integrate smoothly with your existing retail systems. This will reduce disruption during the implementation phase and allow both customers and staff to adapt quickly to the new system.

Train staff on using voice biometrics system 

Training your staff members on how to use the voice biometrics system effectively is critical. Otherwise, no matter how good the technology is, there’s an increased risk of human error that could eventually lead to return fraud. 

Training should include knowing when and how to use the technology and troubleshooting potential issues to prevent delays in the returns process.

Monitor system performance and optimize processes 

After implementation, regularly monitor the system’s performance to ensure it functions as expected. Make necessary adjustments to optimize the system’s capabilities and improve its accuracy and efficiency in supporting fraud prevention efforts. 

Additional benefits of voice biometrics in retail

Beyond helping prevent return fraud, voice biometrics offer additional advantages that enhance the overall retail experience.

  • Reduced fraud costs: By minimizing fraudulent returns, retailers can significantly reduce the financial losses associated with them. This helps merchants optimize their operations, improve profitability, and focus resources on serving genuine customers.
  • Convenience: Voice biometrics streamline the return process by eliminating the need for physical IDs or receipts. Customers can complete their returns quickly and easily, leading to a better shopping experience.
  • Trust and loyalty: Implementing voice biometrics builds trust with customers, as they feel confident that their identities and transactions are secure. This increased level of trust enhances customer loyalty and encourages repeat business.
  • Transparency: Maintaining transparency with customers about the use of voice biometrics for fraud detection can foster confidence. Clear communication regarding how voice analysis is used will help consumers understand the purpose and benefits of this technology.

Adopt a voice biometrics solution to help prevent return fraud

Return fraud is a serious issue affecting retailers worldwide, leading to losses of billions of dollars each year. While strict return policies may be somewhat helpful, retailers need to find better, customer-friendly alternatives. One such approach is voice biometrics, which offers additional defenses against fraudulent returns while improving the customer experience.

Voice biometric solutions can help merchants secure their return processes, reduce fraud costs, and build stronger relationships with customers. Adopting such a technology may seem like a significant shift, but its long-term benefits, both in fraud detection and customer trust, make it the perfect choice for small and large retailers.

Working alongside the Webex Contact Center team, Pindrop has certified Pindrop® Passport and Pindrop® Protect and added them to the Webex App Hub

We are dedicated to helping our customers quickly and easily authenticate inbound calls, drive automation in the IVR (Interactive Voice Response system), and detect fraud. 

With voice-based authentication methods, contact centers can reduce caller frustration, shorten resolution times, and improve security and compliance.

Using the Pindrop® API Connector within the Webex Contact Center, we seamlessly integrate into contact center call flows, enabling quick setup and easy deployment.

How it works

In any partner integration, Pindrop® Technologies captures a copy of an inbound call and runs a thorough analysis. The analysis of an inbound call is predicated upon a deep, carrier-style integration where the Pindrop® Solution ingests the call audio, metadata, keystroke presses, and other signaling. 

This approach allows our technology to perform an accurate, multifactor analysis of the inbound caller’s voice, device, behavior, network, risk, and liveness. This will help you determine if the caller is a genuine consumer or a fraudster.  

For more insight into how fraudsters operate, check out our article on the fraudster playbook

Webex Contact Center: Customer SIPREC integration

The diagram below showcases the robust architecture of the Webex Contact Center + Pindrop integration. It illustrates a scenario where a customer using a premise-based Session Border Controller (SBC) routes calls to Pindrop. Pindrop also supports a flexible Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) model, allowing you to route calls directly from your carrier. Contact Pindrop to determine if your carrier is supported.

A high-level architectural diagram illustrating the call flow from an SBC to the Cisco Webex Contact Center and then to the Pindrop network for voice authentication and fraud detection.
This is a high-level architectural diagram illustrating the call flow from an SBC to the Webex Contact Center and then to the Pindrop network for voice authentication and fraud detection.

Key elements of the Webex CC + Pindrop integration

1. Pindrop® API connector

The Pindrop® API Connector enables your organization to establish a secure trust relationship between your Pindrop account and the Webex Contact Center, allowing you to access Pindrop’s voice authentication and fraud detection services seamlessly. 

Once the trust relationship is established, integrating Pindrop’s capabilities is as straightforward as making HTTP requests within your Webex CC call flows. These requests allow you to initiate voice authentication, detect fraud, capture key data points for analysis, and make intelligent routing decisions.

2. Easy-to-use agent UI

Pindrop has constructed a pre-built agent user interface, delivered through the Webex Contact Center agent desktop. 

This helps implement Pindrop intelligence and policy-driven instructions to Webex Contact Center agents as clearly and intuitively as possible. This user-friendly interface helps agents easily understand and apply Pindrop’s capabilities in their daily operations. 

A view of Pindrop's pre-built agent user interface. It showcases call risk status, phone number, call duration, and more.
A view of Pindrop’s pre-built agent user interface. It showcases call risk status, phone number, call duration, and more.

 3. Supportive resources for self-guided implementation

To simplify the process, we have authored a detailed user guide that provides clear, step-by-step instructions to help contact center administrators implement Pindrop® Solutions in their Webex Contact Center environment. 

Additionally, Pindrop resources are readily available for support and guidance, ensuring a smooth and successful integration. 

Real-world success

Some of the largest banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and healthcare providers in the world trust Pindrop to combat fraud and deliver secure, efficient customer service. To read more about how Pindrop integrates with other leading contact center platforms, check out our posts on Five9 + Pindrop authentication and fraud detection or how to integrate Pindrop® Solutions and Genesys Cloud CX.

Ongoing collaboration and future development

At Pindrop, we’re committed to continuous innovation and close collaboration with the Webex Contact Center. We adapt our solutions to address evolving customer needs. Our teams actively monitor and enhance the current integration, exploring new capabilities to support future use cases.

Do you have a call center challenge you’d like Pindrop and Webex Contact Center to address? We’d love to hear from you.

Before Pindrop® Solutions

Account takeovers were on the rise for this credit union. For example, potential fraudsters were repeatedly calling in using spoofed numbers. As a first step, the credit union wanted to understand if a repeat caller was targeting them, and second, they wanted to detect fraud when it was happening. The credit union’s Assistant VP of Digital Services shared, “We had one fraudster who called in requesting a line of credit for $30,000. They did this by moving the money out of a member account and into a shell account using the member’s information. Bad loans were also rampant because members easily bypassed the Knowledge-Based Authentication questions (KBAs). And, this was just the fraud that we knew about.”

Although fraud was rising, the credit union was determined to find the right solution and justify the cost. However, they knew that call center agents were uneasy, acting as the front line for fraud, and they were losing agents. 

The credit union was aware of the evolving fraud landscape, where the human ear can no longer be relied on to detect a synthetic voice. With the proliferation of generative AI, easy accessibility to AI voice engines (+800% increase from ‘23 to ‘21)1, and low cost to use, the way we see and hear content has irrevocably changed. Today, the ability to manipulate audio is easy, and humans are unable to tell the difference. For example, in a study by the International Security Program, human detection of AI generated audio was labeled ‘as good as a coin toss’ , detecting fake audio with just 54.5% accuracy (compared to 62% accuracy for fake images). Traditional methods used by organizations like KBAs and one-time passwords (OTPs) are also vulnerable to synthetic audio attacks.

What ROA did Pindrop® Solutions deliver?

“Once we implemented the Pindrop Passport and Pindrop Protect solutions, things took off.” 

Since deploying Pindrop’s fully integrated authentication and fraud detection solution, the credit union has significantly reduced the success rate of fraud within its phone channel, seeing a 50% reduction in the number of fraud incidents overall.

Launched in September, 2023
Once implementation was complete, the credit union was surprised to see how many fraud attempts were happening; it was considerably more than they initially thought. 

When Pindrop® Protect and Pindrop® Passport were turned on, credit union members were initially apprehensive; they no longer had significant hurdles, such as answering lengthy questions,  to clear when getting through to the credit union. For example, within the first two months, the credit union went from an average of 54 seconds to identify/ validate a member, down to 18 seconds on average. Member satisfaction improved significantly, and average handle time was reduced, which meant average wait time also decreased. In fact, the credit union observed a 67% decrease (36 seconds) in time to authenticate members.

Additionally, the credit union’s agent experience improved dramatically, reducing overall agent attrition in just 90 days. For example, after launching Pindrop  Protect and Pindrop Passport in September, the credit union’s employee turnover was the lowest they had ever seen in December, just one quarter after implementation.

Since the deployment of Pindrop Protect, the credit union has experienced an 88% reduction in fraud incidents occurring within their call center channel. In one month alone, Pindrop Protect detected nine fraudulent calls against an alert rate of 0.68% and a review ratio 241:1. 

Since the deployment of Pindrop Passport, the credit union authenticated 23,188 calls, and low-risk authenticated an additional 11,132 calls. In one month, Pindrop Passport demonstrated an increase of 1.54% in enrollment penetration (0:6min), which measures the percentage of calls tied to previously enrolled identity claim vs the call population with an identity claim.

Not Just ‘Another Vendor’ 

Don’t take our word for it, the Credit Union shared their experience with the Pindrop implementation as well as their experience  with our team: 

“The ongoing support from the Pindrop team has been outstanding- they are extremely easy to work with, and they always deliver on their word. The service provided is white glove and turnkey. They are by far one of the most flexible and understanding vendors that we have worked with. Their team took the time to ensure that all stakeholders were armed with the information necessary to ensure that we could hit the ground running. Throughout the entire process, they answered our questions thoroughly.”

“In fact, Pindrop makes us aware of additional features that we might not be taking advantage of that are included based on the contract we have, like Custom Attributes. That is not something that you would expect from a vendor. This kind of service is what truly sets Pindrop apart from others.”  

– Assistant VP, Digital Services at Credit Union

Sources Cited

1. Open source projects on Hugging Face leveraging an AI voice tool (from 38 in ‘21 to 352 in ‘23)

On track to save company nearly $10M in fraud losses

The Challenge

This retailer is one of the world’s largest brick-and-mortar organizations with one of the fastest growing and most dynamic e-commerce organizations. With a large portion of the U.S. population living in close proximity to its stores, the retailer is primed to combine physical locations with e-commerce business to offer a level of convenience never before seen. The retailer has also continued to pursue ways to bring technology into retail to offer customers a seamless shopping experience across its stores and e-commerce websites.

The rise and prevalence of social engineering in the e-commerce and retail industry was a major concern. LexisNexis® Risk Solutions study1 found that U.S. e-commerce merchants have been hit with the highest fraud costs, with nearly half(47%) related to replacing/redistributing lost goods2. Pindrop® Voice Intelligence and Security Report, 2023 also reinforced this threat. The report states that retail has a fraud rate of 1 in 99 calls, which is seven times higher than the next highest industry (banking) at 1 in 749 calls. Retail is vulnerable to various fraud risks, including return fraud, e-commerce fraud, and debit/ credit card fraud.

The Solution

Utilizing the Negative VoiceID solution at this retailer, Pindrop has identified several prolific and repeat fraudsters who were using multiple caller IDs to attack the call center. For example, a fraudster “Salao Khan” made 5 separate phone calls from 5 different ANIs within 3 weeks using 4 different names. “Salao Khan” was trying to socially engineer the agent into processing fraudulent returns for missing items. By matching this fraudster’s voiceID across the phone calls, Pindrop produced a Negative VoiceID which allowed the retailer to stop the fraudster from succeeding with the transaction and further investigate the velocity of accounts that the fraudster had already nested (see table on next page for additional examples.

In just the first few weeks of utilizing the new feature, Pindrop has identified 86 distinct
fraudsters that have placed 8,906 calls from 6,049 unique devices ANIs, putting the retailer in a position to close 1000’s of accounts and prevent a significant amount of fraud losses associated with the orders placed by these accounts3.

For e-commerce companies, an astonishing 14% of returns have been found to be fraudulent4. Estimates from the National Retailers Federation reveal that e-commerce return fraud may cost US retailers $23 billion annually5. The retailer was specifically concerned about this trend of bad actors extracting fraudulent concessions (refunds, replacements, adjustments, promos, gift cards) by deploying social engineering tactics in the call centers.

The situation before Pindrop

The retailer faced a growing volume of fraud in the contact center. 1 in every 60 calls that came into the contact center were fraudulent. Many of the fraudsters utilized a “Concessions Abuse as a Service” model that targets large e-commerce merchants with robust customer service who are more willing to risk a financial loss in exchange for customer satisfaction. The fraudsters were targeting this particular retailer due to its large e-commerce volume and customer-friendly practices and were going after accounts that closely resembled those of loyal customers. As a result, the retailer faced the challenge of losing millions of dollars and putting the brand at risk.

How does Pindrop do it?

To help the retailer solve this fraud problem, Pindrop utilizes a multi-factor platform that
includes the voice, device, behavior, and several data risk models of the caller that produce a risk score on every call in real-time. Producing a multi-factor risk score in real-time to the retailer allows them to route calls from the IVR to a group of specific contact center agents that they want to service that call. The agents have all the tooling and trained skills necessary to review all of the account information needed to accurately disposition the calls as fraudulent.

In addition to the multi-factor risk platform, Pindrop developed and operationalized a new feature called “Negative VoiceID” to identify when a single fraud voice is attacking multiple times over a given period of time. Pindrop Protect continues to utilize voice analysis and matching, comparing the voice features of the current caller to a set of negative voice profiles trained based on confirmed fraud cases which influences the risk score associated with the current call. However, the Negative Voice ID match is a risk factor that is useful for identifying a fraudster when tactics are used to change or mask the calling device, location, or phone number, but the same fraudster is speaking.

What’s next

The retailer wants to use Negative VoiceID not just to identify and investigate fraud incidents but to also block these accounts from being opened and utilized for fraud. In addition to identifying these fraudulent accounts and the volumes of fraudulent returns that are processed, the retailer also plans to block these calls from making it to any customer care agents so as to eliminate or significantly reduce the call center agent handle time.

The retailer is planning to expand Protect and the Negative VoiceID feature to other lines of business and geographical locations to protect their business from these prolific fraudsters and to enhance genuine customer experience which will allow the retailer to achieve their targeted goal of reducing fraud losses by 3x.

Sources Cited

1. https://risk.lexisnexis.com/insights-resources/research/us-ca-true-cost-of-fraud-study

2. https://orbograph.com/lexisnexis-report-cost-of-fraud-is-on-the-rise-since-the-pandemic-set-in/
3. Pindrop analysis of fraud calls at large US retailers for 4 weeks in 2023
4. ECR Community Buy Online, Return in Store, The Challenges and Opportunities of Product Returns in a Multichannel Environment, 2019
5. National Retailers Federation survey on cost of retail returns, 2022
6. Results from a pilot study conducted by top US retailer comparing Pindrop’s fraud detection rates against two other vendors 
7. Pindrop Voice Intelligence and Security Report, 2023
8. Forecasted annualized savings based on Pindrop’s fraud detection rate applied to total call volume and average industry fraud losses

Telco A:

  • Personalize customer service(both in the IVR and when calls are transferred to agents)
  • Authenticate customers in the IVR reliably
  • Use a cost-effective solution

Telco B:

  • Detect ANI spoofing to prevent fraud
  • Increase IVR containment
  • Improve the customer experience while improving security

Telco A

  • 3X Return on Investment
  • 2 Months Full Implementation

Telco B:

  • 2% Increase in IVR Containment
  • 70% Verification “Green” Rate
  • Increase CSAT Scores

Telco A

Background/History

Telco A, participating in this research, is a telecommunications Fortune 50 firm. Almost 100% of incoming calls to contact centers go through the IVR initially; roughly 50% are eventually transferred to an agent.

Telco A strongly desired to improve the customer experience in its contact centers. Management’s vision was to personalize service, streamline authentication, and transfer information from the IVR to an agent when calls had to be transferred so customers could be greeted by name and meet their needs faster. To accomplish this, the firm realized it had to know definitively who agents were dealing with on each call as quickly as possible. The tipping point came when ANI spoofing escalated significantly, and executives realized it was time to take action. There was a strong desire to address the spoofing issues as fast as possible, so a solution that could be implemented swiftly was a strong consideration in the vendor selection process.

Outcomes

Implementing VeriCall® Technology was a resounding success. Using VeriCall® Technology,
three potential results are possible for every incoming call—green, gray, or red. In the IVR, all calls VeriCall® Technology denotes as green are considered authenticated by Telco A. As a result, they are fast-tracked; customers are greeted by name, and no further authentication is performed. If the customer’s needs cannot be met in the IVR, the caller is transferred to an agent who also greets him or her by name and acts to address the customer’s request. Telco A estimates that all green calls transferred to an agent have a reduction of two to four minutes average handle time; this is time that was previously required for authentication, primarily using KBA questions and OTPs. The reduction in authentication time resulted in an operational expense reduction in the millions of dollars annually. About 75% of incoming calls are green. Calls coded gray by VeriCall® Technology follow the process that was in place at Telco A prior to implementing VeriCall® Technology. Since the customer has not yet been successfully authenticated, calls that are labeled red by VeriCall® Technology (less than 2% of incoming calls) are treated as highly suspicious by Telco A; most honest customers do not spoof a telephone number, so the majority of these calls are normally determined to be fraudulent.

During the implementation phase, a few minor issues arose but were addressed and resolved quickly. This executive stated Next Caller is a small, extremely responsive and works to maintain a strong partnership with this client. Telco A has achieved three times the return on investment after implementing the VeriCall® Technology.

Lessons Learned

Choosing VeriCall® Technology from Next Caller had buy-in from all internal stakeholders. They have found the company to be responsive and a good strategic business partner, and the solution to be cost-effective. Compared to other solutions they considered, VeriCall® Technology is significantly less expensive to Telco A.

Telco B

Background/History

Telco B is a telecommunications Fortune 250 business. Over 98% of incoming calls to contact centers initially go through the IVR in this company.

The Telco B began experiencing an uptick in fraud in its contact centers and wanted to take action to mitigate fraud and better protect its customers’ accounts. Its biggest challenge was ANI spoofing, so it wanted to harden the IVR to prevent account takeover fraud. Telco B was using a web tool that was supposed to help identify incoming telephone numbers that were likely fraudulent, but fraud rates were rising. It examined various technology solutions available in the market that could help detect incoming calls from spoofed numbers.

Approach

In looking at competing solutions in the market, the firm’s executives saw many strong capabilities but were given pause by the price tags. Management decided that at that point in time, they didn’t really need a lot of the functionality offered by more expensive competitors; they just required reliable spoofing detection. Because the rate of fraud incidents was increasing, they also needed a solution they could implement quickly to better protect customer accounts.

As Telco B’s executives looked at Next Caller, they felt it had a very competitive solution and that the company would be a good business partner. While improving the customer experience wasn’t the primary reason they were looking for a solution, management was excited about the prospect as a side benefit of addressing their fraud challenge.

Outcomes

Prior to implementing VeriCall® Technology, Telco B was matching the incoming telephone number to an existing customer account, looking to see if there were any fraud alerts on the account, and requiring the customer to input an account PIN (personal identification number). After implementing VeriCall® Technology, for all calls determined to be green (about 70%), no PIN is required by Telco B. This frictionless verification was embraced by customers and company management alike. In addition, the use of the web tool that provided information about numbers that were likely to be fraudulent was discontinued without detriment after implementing VeriCall® Technology.

Perhaps the biggest challenge during the implementation was that there were unanticipated system integration requirements with the system Telco B uses in front of and behind the IVR.

Next Caller partnered with Telco B to address all of the issues quickly, but it delayed the overall implementation of VeriCall® Technology from two months to three months. Lessons Learned VeriCall® Technology requires minimal upkeep according to Telco B, and it requires two fewer data inputs than the system used previously. Telco B management is hopeful that Next Caller’s machine learning models will continue to improve the product’s percentage of green calls over time. Like Telco A, Telco B is very complimentary about Next Caller’s support.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls can be very difficult to authenticate. While such calls are sometimes riskier, the mere use of a VoIP line does not mean the call is fraudulent. The executive with Telco B states that VeriCall® Technology does a very good job with incoming calls from mobile devices and landlines, and that Next Caller is working to improve results on VoIP calls.

Similar to Telco A, Telco B has achieved a decrease in the time a caller takes to be authenticated when speaking with an agent. If authenticated in the IVR (green call), there is a reduction of over a minute of handling time, which results in significant cost reduction in the contact center. In addition, Telco B has achieved an additional 2% IVR containment rate, and management is excited that as the solution’s machine learning models continue to learn, this percentage may rise further.

Last, Telco B’s customer satisfaction ratings (measured by an independent firm) have improved over the past two years—something management takes very seriously and is proud of. A portion of that improvement is attributed to the customer experience improvement in contact centers.

Lessons Learned

VeriCall® Technology requires minimal upkeep according to Telco B, and it requires two fewer data inputs than the system used previously. Telco B management is hopeful that Next Caller’s machine learning models will continue to improve the product’s percentage of green calls over time. Like Telco A, Telco B is very complimentary about Next Caller’s support.

What’s next

The uptick in fraud in contact centers crosses over many industries; the challenges described in this case study and the benefits achieved by Telco A and B are likely relevant for any contact center in which fraudsters can derive value by taking over a customer account.

Here are some key takeaways for consideration:

Building a Future-Ready Contact Center: AMA with Pindrop x Google Cloud

Discover how Pindrop and Google Cloud combine to help you remain nimble in today’s ever-changing fraud landscape.

Pindrop and Google Cloud have partnered to provide the advanced capabilities required to secure all of your contact center interactions so you can better protect your organization and customers against fraud.

In this Ask Me Anything live webinar, you’ll get to speak with product leaders at Pindrop and Google Cloud to learn how this new joint solution makes it easier for you to deploy advanced voice authentication and anti-fraud solutions at scale.

Authentication Excellence: Driving Secure and Seamless Experiences in the Contact Center

Customer authentication in the contact center today is a time consuming and clunky experience. How did the leading voice in authentication and the innovator of conversational AI come together to create customer magic?

 

Through Pindrop and Boost.ai’s new integration, Desert Financial Credit Union (DFCU) has made their call center authentication process easier, faster and more secure. A combination of Boost.ai’s intelligent virtual agents and Pindrop’s passive authentication solution has resolved 22% of DFCU’s calls without human agent interaction, saving 42 hours of agent handle time in just the first week.

The Delicate Balance of CX and Fraud Detection

In today’s digital era, where automation reigns supreme, there remains a significant segment of customers who prefer personal interactions over automated services. Gartner reports that 46% of individuals prefer speaking to a real person in the service center, while only 14% opt for email communication.

Discover the delicate balancing act that businesses face as they navigate the fine line between meeting their customers’ desire for human connection and mitigating the risks associated with fraud in contact centers. In our final session of the VIRS webinar series, our experts will dive into the intricate dynamics of this challenge.

Resurgence of Fraud in Contact Centers: Latest Tactics and Vulnerabilities

Fraud is surging back in contact centers. In 2022 as the pandemic era government payouts dried up and economic uncertainty took hold, fraudsters started to return to their familiar hunting grounds; socially engineering contact center agents. Only this time they are armed with people’s personal data acquired from dark web data breaches and smishing attempts. As a result, the fraud call rate is up by 40% in 2022 and the trend is expected to continue in 2023.

Improve your Contact Center Customer Experience & Security with Pindrop, NovelVox and Five9

Join Pindrop, NovelVox and Five9 to discover how you can deliver best-in-class, friction-free authentication while reducing handle time with customers.

The 2024 Security Landscape: Your Guide to Modern Fraud Prevention

From data breaches to deepfakes, the current state of cybersecurity and the impact of generative AI on fraud activities has had massive implications on businesses and consumers. Join Pindrop leaders for an exclusive webinar as we dive into Pindrop’s latest findings detailed in our annual Voice Intelligence and Security report, covering the evolving fraud and security trends and solutions in contact centers.

Voice Deepfakes in the Contact Center: Ask Us Anything

The manipulation of audio and generative AI technology have become increasingly sophisticated, raising concerns for businesses and consumers around digital deception, fraud attempts and disinformation. Last month, we launched our industry-leading solution, Pindrop® Pulse, which delivers real-time audio deepfake detection in the contact center.

Whether you’re a seasoned IT professional or curious to learn more about the mechanics behind deepfake detection, join our panel of Pindrop voice security experts for a live Ask Me Anything (AMA) session where you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and gain invaluable knowledge around how your business can navigate the complexities of this evolving digital landscape.

Human or Machine? Safeguarding Contact Centers Against Deepfakes

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can create new content is a major technological breakthrough. ChatGPT, introduced by OpenAI, is one of the most famous examples of this trend. However, the underlying idea of leveraging fast-learning AI models to create synthetic audio and content is already having far-reaching consequences in the world of fraud.

In Part 3 of the VISR webinar series, our experts will dive into the dark side of AI and its profound impact on our digital landscape. This session will unravel the unsettling consequences of leveraging fast-learning models for the creation of synthetic audio and content, leading to a surge in fraudulent activities.

STIR/SHAKEN: How To Maximize The Value For Your Contact Center

Using a question-based approach, this webinar will discuss some of the complex considerations surrounding the use of STIR/SHAKEN attestations in the contact center, and suggest questions that your business may want to answer as you:

  • Plan and prepare for widespread deployment
  • Account for known and unknown integration or performance limitations
  • Seek to develop a passive, customer-friendly call authentication process

Protecting the IVR: Optimizing IVR Systems in The Contact Center – Part 3 of 3

Part three in our three-part series focuses on how fraud is perpetrated in automated contact center systems. In this third and final session, we will examine:

  • How IVR fraud can be a predictor and indicator of existing and future fraudulent activity across channels outside of contact centers
  • What key technologies some of the largest companies and contact centers on earth are leveraging for fraud
  • How you can use data from various and different attack vectors to shut down fraud in your contact center

Protecting the IVR: What is IVR Fraud In The Contact Center? – Part 1 of 3

Part one in our three-part series focuses on how fraud is perpetrated in automated call center systems. In this first session, we will explore:

  • Key concepts in IVR technology protecting contact centers
  • How IVR systems have become a weak point in contact center security,
  • How bad guys leverage automated contact center systems to mine account information
  • How social engineering can happen without ever speaking to a contact center agent.