TELEPHONE FRAUD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150288791A1
• Filed: 04/03/2014
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Weiss, Andrew, Hotes, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 10,447,838 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6027 Fraud preventions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/65 Environment-dependent, e.g. using captured environmental data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A process-based, automated phone fraud management system that operates over a communication network to protect a user from attempted fraud by a fraud agent is disclosed. Local application software interacts with server software to provide alerts for a protected user based on phone numbers known to be, assumed to be, or found to be associated with fraud agents. The server keeps lists of phone numbers, and searches those lists to classify phone numbers. Phone calls to or from numbers associated with a fraud agent are interrupted. Questionable calls are converted to text and the text is then searched to identify words and phrases commonly associated with phone fraud.

Claims

1. A method of providing an alert to a communication device user, the method comprising:

detecting a phone communication on a communication device, the phone communication corresponding to a particular phone number;

using a processor to compare the particular phone number to at least one list of phone numbers; and

providing an alert to a user through the communication device based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the particular phone number does not correspond to at least one phone number on the at least one list based on the comparison; and

providing the alert responsive to the particular phone number not corresponding to the at least one phone number on the at least one list.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the particular phone number corresponds to at least one phone number on the at least one list based on the comparison; and

providing the alert responsive to the particular phone number corresponding to the at least one phone number on the at least one list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of disconnecting and interrupting the phone communication based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining that the particular phone number corresponds to at least one phone number on the at least one list based on the comparison;

and

disconnecting the phone communication responsive to the particular phone number corresponding to the at least one phone number on the at least one list.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the particular phone number corresponds to at least one phone number on the at least one list based on the comparison; and

generating a signal output to interrupt the phone communication responsive to the particular phone number corresponding to the at least one phone number on the at least one list.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording the phone communication based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising outputting an audio advising a party to the phone communication that the phone communication is being recorded.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting audio of the phone communication to text;

comparing the text to a list of particular words;

determining that the text corresponds to at least one word from the list of particular words; and

providing an indication to a user through the communication device based on the determining that the text corresponds to at least one word from the list of particular words.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting audio of the phone communication to text;

applying a classifier to the text, the classifier trained to detect suspected fraudulent intent; and

providing an indication to a user through the communication device based on the determining that the text corresponds to a suspected fraudulent intent based on the applying of the classifier.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a classifier to audio of the phone communication, the classifier trained to detect suspected fraudulent intent; and

providing an indication to a user through the communication device responsive to determining that the audio corresponds to a suspected fraudulent intent based on the applying of the classifier.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing at least one of audio of the phone communication and a text transcription of the phone communication to determine a suspected fraudulent intent; and

providing a notification to the user through the communication device based on the suspected fraudulent intent during the phone communication.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein analyzing the at least one of the audio and the text transcription comprises determining the existence of at least one of a particular word, particular phrase, and a particular topic in the phone communication.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising at least one of disconnecting and interrupting the phone communication responsive to determining that the phone communication corresponds to the suspected fraudulent intent.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

interrupting the phone communication responsive to determining that the phone communication corresponds to the suspected fraudulent intent; and

re-enabling the phone communication responsive to a user input via the communication device.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

interrupting the phone communication a first time based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list;

re-enabling the phone communication a first time responsive to a user input via the communication device;

interrupting the phone communication a second time responsive to determining that the audio corresponds to the suspected fraudulent intent; and

re-enabling the phone communication a second time responsive to a user input via the communication device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein re-enabling the phone communication at least one of the first time and the second time is responsive to user input of a code via the communication device.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving by a computing system an indication of the particular phone number through a network from the communication device;

comparing the particular phone number corresponding to the communication to at least one list of phone numbers by the computing system by the at least one processor; and

providing an indication of the alert to the communication device based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list.

19. A method comprising:

detecting a phone communication on a communication device, the phone communication corresponding to a particular phone number;

analyzing the phone communication to determine a suspected fraudulent intent; and

providing a notification to the user through the communication device based on the suspected fraudulent intent.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein analyzing the phone communication comprises determining the existence of at least one of a particular word, a particular phrase, and a particular topic in the phone communication.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising at least one of disconnecting and interrupting the phone communication responsive to determining that the phone communication corresponds to the suspected fraudulent intent.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

interrupting the phone communication responsive to determining that the phone communication corresponds to the suspected fraudulent intent; and

re-enabling the phone communication responsive to a user input via the communication device.

23. A method of providing an alert to communication device user, the method comprising:

receiving by a computing system an indication of a particular phone number from a plurality of communication devices, the phone number corresponding to voice communications flagged by users of the communication devices;

determining by the computing system that the indications of the particular phone number exceed a particular threshold;

determining that the particular phone number corresponds to a particular voice communication in progress on a particular communication device;

providing an indication of an alert to the user of the communication device during the particular voice communication while the communication is in progress.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising transmitting an indication of an alert regarding the particular voice communication to a third party.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving by the computing system from the particular communication device at least one of a recording of an audio of the voice communication and a transcription of the audio of the voice communication; and

transmitting from the computing system to the third party the at least one of the recording of the audio of the voice communication and the transcription of the audio of the voice communication.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein providing the indication of the alert comprises providing an indication of a likelihood that the voice communication is fraudulent to the user of the communication device.

27. A computing system comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the system, cause the system to perform a process including:

detecting a phone communication on a communication device, the phone communication corresponding to a particular phone number;

using a processor to compare the particular phone number to at least one list of phone numbers; and

providing an alert to a user through the communication device based on the comparison of the phone number to the at least one list.

28. A computer network comprising a communication device corresponding to a first user, the communication device configured for:

detecting a phone communication on the communication device; and

transmitting via a network data corresponding to the phone communication during the phone communication;

a computing system configured for;

receiving the data corresponding to the phone communication during the phone communication;

using a processor to analyze the data corresponding to the phone communication to determine a potential fraud; and

providing an alert to a user through the communication device based on the analysis of the data corresponding to the phone communication.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein:

transmitting the data comprises transmitting by the communication device a particular phone number corresponding to an incoming call to the communication device; and

analyzing the data comprises comparing the phone number to a list of phone numbers to determine the potential fraud.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein:

the communication device is further configured for recording the phone communication;

transmitting the data comprises transmitting by the communication device at least one of the recording and a transcription of the phone communication; and

analyzing the data comprises analyzing the at least one of the recording and the transcription to determine the potential fraud.