CHEATS FACE LIE TEST ON PHONE

BANKS and insurance companies are using lie-detector tests to trap cheating customers.

They are fitting their phone lines with sophisticated voice- analysis equipment in a bid to identify potential fraudsters. Phone operators are trained to take callers though a pre-set list of questions designed to expose deception. The hi-tech device monitors the claimant's vocal pitch and tone during the conversation to pick up tell-tale signs of fraud. A screen message indicates high or low risk.

The scheme has already been introduced by Highway Insurance, of Brentwood, Essex, the UK's eighth-largest motor insurer. Company spokesman Andrew Gibson, said: "We're using this to speed up legitimate claims".

The MI5-syle technology is part of a new crackdown on fraud which, the insurance industry claims, costs more than pounds 1billion a year. One of the worst hit sectors is the pounds 4.5billion-a-year motor insurance segment.

Roger Bingham, of human rights group Liberty, said: "The use of lie-detector equipment and voice analysis without customers' knowledge is questionable".

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