Only now it's not necessarily about quality.

Getty Images
Getty Images
loading...

You've heard those messages a zillion times. I've had a rough week with these things. My bank assures me that no information got out, but they decided to send me a new debit card anyway. Swell. I'm one of those people that has about a dozen different things linked to my debit card. Everything from gas to Amazon.

I say 'about a dozen' because the truth is I never remember what's linked until I start hearing from people about my card no longer working. This is a real pain.

Problem is, to protect those of us who are honest, banks have to take extraodinary measures to combat fraud. The Associated Press reported this week that JP Morgan and Wells Fargo now really mean it when they say your call may be recorded. Not so much for quality control, more to look for bad guys. They are now placing your voice in a computer to get a 'voice print'. Yup, it's like a fingerprint. No two voices are exactly alike.

Here's why... People who are committing fraud need information to accomplish it. Your information. Sometimes they find just enough to make it sound to a stranger on a phone like they are really you. They use the info they have to gain more info, and sometimes access to your stuff. They may call back several times a day pretending to be different people. They will likely wind up talking to a different person in the call center, maybe even a different call center. So long as they keep their story straight, the customer service rep has no way of knowing that the person they are talking to may have called in a half an hour ago pretending to be someone else.

That's what the recordings are for. Now they can keep a record of your voice to know that you are really you. More importantly, if the same voice turns up on multiple calls with multiple names, they now have a way to know when fraud is being attempted.

More From 97.5 WOKQ