If you’ve ever checked your phone’s call history to see when someone last rang, you’ve probably seen information such as the caller’s name, the call time, and the call duration. These are just a few of the fields that phone services capture in call data records (CDRs).
Beyond the surface, even more data is stored, such as the route the call traveled, which device it came from, and any errors encountered during the call. This data is not only important for keeping track of your contacts, but it can also be used by federal officials in investigations.
In call centers, CDRs are a data goldmine for a ton of use cases, including detecting and even preventing fraud. And luckily, you don’t have to be an investigator to make use of the data.
How to Read Call Detail Records
In most VoIP systems, call detail records are tucked away in a web portal. How you access them varies depending on your provider, but you can most likely find CDRs under a setting called Call Logs, Call Records, or Call History.
There may be more than a dozen fields contained in the records. Here are some of the most commonly visible:
- Origin number: The number that made the call
- Receiver number: The number that received the call
- Date of call: When the call was made
- Time of call: At which time it was made
- Call duration: How long each call lasted
- Call type: Whether it was an inbound or outbound call
- Location: From where the call originated geographically
What you see depends on your organizational role, and also your phone provider. Your admin, IT personnel, or VoIP system provider can access a much wider range of information, with varying levels of granularity depending on the system and regulations.
For example, they might be able to see the device type, software model used, user information, and call quality metrics such as errors or delays. These details are handy for tracing a call’s origin, troubleshooting VoIP systems, and even detecting potential fraud.
Call Detail Record Analysis
The sheer volume of information inside the average CDR database would be overwhelming for anyone to analyze manually. Luckily, most call center software can process this data at scale and extract insights to guide operations.
Here’s how it works: First, the software gathers vast amounts of CDRs and stores them in central data hubs, where it cleans them for analysis. Specialized tools then sift through this data, searching for patterns, trends, and hidden clues.
Finally, these insights are made useful and displayed on dashboards and reports. Those easy pie charts and stats you see on your call center dashboard? This is the software doing its job.
Call centers leverage CDR analysis for many purposes, including accurately tracking and billing customers, providing personalized customer service based on call history, optimizing call routing and staffing levels, and tracking and recording calls for compliance purposes. In modern call centers, the data gained from CDRs powers the whole operation.
Call Detail Records and Fraud Prevention
Call detail records have another use case that go beyond optimizing your call center performance—fraud prevention.
How exactly does this work? By taking a quick look at the data supplied by your call detail records, you can spot anomalies in call traffic patterns. This might look like sudden spikes in call volume, especially during off-peak hours, or a surge in calls to high-risk destinations.
Here’s three common call center fraud schemes and how CDRs are used to avoid them:
Toll fraud
Toll fraud happens when hackers steal credit card information or exploit system vulnerabilities to make expensive calls, which your business is then billed for.
CDRs can reveal sudden spikes in calls to premium or international numbers, especially from unusual locations.
To help prevent this from happening, you can set up real-time alerts that warn you when you’re getting a high amount of these types of calls. You can also automatically block certain high-risk destinations.
Unauthorized long-distance numbers
Fraudsters might equally exploit your system to make long-distance calls using unauthorized numbers.
CDRs can expose discrepancies between the calling party’s location and the call’s origin, allowing you to block unauthorized numbers and prevent further losses.
Roaming fraud
Roaming charges are a potential goldmine for fraudsters, and CDRs can reveal anomalies like unusually long roaming durations or calls originating from unexpected locations.
You can deter fraudsters by setting up roaming limits and requiring additional authentication for high-risk roaming calls.
While taking proactive measures is crucial, fraudsters can still slip through. That’s where machine learning steps in as your AI partner. These algorithms dig deep into CDRs, uncovering hidden patterns and anomalies that human eyes can miss.
And since they learn and adapt quickly, you’re more likely to catch emerging fraud schemes before they cause real damage.
There’s still a lot of research going on in the area of machine learning and fraud prevention, and potential new tools like deep learning and natural language processing push the boundaries of detection even further.
By embracing contact center technology with these advanced capabilities, you’re building a dynamic defense and ensuring your business continues to operate securely and efficiently.