14 DAY TRIAL // Back in March, we reported that Fujitsu and the Nagoya University developed a system that could detect phone scams based on voice analysis and specific keywords regularly used by con artists. Now, the organizations reveal that they will start field trials of technology to ensure that the product can be commercialized.
The trials will take place in August in the Okayama Prefecture of Japan with the collaboration of police, the National Police’s local IT unit and The Chugoku Bank.
The participation of all these parties is necessary because the system involves not only the victim itself, but also a close family member, the police and the institution that handles his/her finances.
During the testing period, when a participant receives a scam call, they’ll be warned with a synthesized voice message of the potential threat. In the meantime, the system sends and e-mail to family members, the police and the bank.
Each of them can take appropriate measures to ensure that the victim is kept out of harm’s way.
The tests – in which over 100 individuals will take part - are also meant to improve the accuracy of the scam detection technology. The detection devices will be installed on landlines and the incoming calls will be analyzed.
The field trials will be handled just as a real situation that involves a phone fraud attempt. Everyone will get alarm messages: family members will call the potential victim to see if it is indeed a fraud call, police will visit the household, and the bank will temporarily freeze payment transactions.
In the future, Fujitsu and the Nagoya University plan on continuing to study phone fraud and prevention methods. Based on the results of these tests, they’ll improve the system and try to find approaches for commercializing the technology.