Voice biometrics tech for fraud protection

(MainsGS3:Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.)

Context:

• According to data by the Reserve Bank of India, frauds have cost the country an estimated ₹100 crore a day over the last seven years. 
• The frauds reported in 2021-22 were 23.69% higher than in the previous year (9,103 cases reported compared to 7,359 in 2020-21), although there was a decline in the amount involved.

Adopting Voice Technology (VT):

• The main reasons for the rise in fraud include greater use of digital payments, telephone banking, and online banking services. 
• One way to reduce losses is by adopting Voice Technology (VT), which encompasses voice biometrics or voice/speech recognition technology. 
• However, these methods are cumbersome, not entirely secure, and vulnerable to deep fakes.

Benefits of Voice Technology (VT):

• With banks and establishments looking for ways to reduce fraud and identity theft risks, one of the best ways to do this is through the use of voice biometrics.
• An emerging technology, it uses the unique characteristics of a person’s voice as identification and creates a digital voiceprint and compares it to a caller’s voice.
• Voice authentication can significantly improve security over knowledge-based authentication methods, which fraudsters have exploited to scam people. Compared to other biometrics, voice use is the cheapest technology, and does not require a reader or special device. 
• Unlike a password, a customer’s voice is impossible to spoof or copy, and is far more challenging to hack thus, VT verifies a caller swiftly in seconds by analysing the caller’s voice and flags suspicious calls.

Essential tool:

• VT is an essential tool for forensics and law enforcement as by adopting VT, police in India can stand to gain tremendously, especially with the recent introduction of 5G. 
• The police can leverage voice to improve investigation efficiency, identify criminals, track criminals, and better respond to and prevent crimes.
• Face recognition technology has a high error rate and works best when the person is looking directly at the camera while voice has a much lower error rate, and requires no eye contact. 
• VT has the advantage of improving user experience, reducing call handle times and call centre costs, besides ensuring high-accuracy authentication in seconds.
• The technology is sensitive enough to detect if someone is impersonating the user or playing a recording.

Conclusion:

• Voice could be an excellent tool for the Government to disburse money for various schemes and verify the proof of life of pensioners from their homes.
• Although the technology is not yet perfect, the potential benefits are significant and once it is in place, user establishments can reap the benefits from a substantial reduction in fraud, making the technology an essential feature in the security toolkit of the future.