No. 13: Technology to foil phone fraud
As you read this sentence, odds are that somebody is on the phone trying to steal money from a bank or financial institution.
Phone fraud is running rampant in the world – the most recent estimates place the amount stolen through telephone scams at more than $10 billion annually. One reason is that the chief lines of defense still tend to be questions that fraudsters can easily answer, such as “mother’s maiden name.”
In 2010, a Georgia Tech doctoral student invented a different way of detecting and stopping phone fraud. Vijay Balasubrimaniyan came up with “phoneprinting” technology that analyzes more than 150 hidden characteristics in a single phone call – points of information that, together, reveal the call’s true origins.
With the help of a faculty advisor, Balasubrimaniyan launched a startup, Pindrop Security, to market the technology. Today, Georgia-based Pindrop has 100 employees, and its one-of-a-kind technology detects fraudulent calls in 15 seconds with 90 percent accuracy.
Consumer brands, big banks and government agencies are increasingly turning to Pindrop to provide the latest protection against phone fraudsters. The inventiveness of an enterprising student in Georgia is the reason why.
Watch GRA's "2-Minute Breakthrough" video on Pindrop Security >
