Fraudsters rehearse their scripts for months. But your call centre agent might get 20 seconds. Customers replace stolen phones without telling their bank, while criminals quietly log in on the new device. And when new regulations arrive, everyone scrambles to comply – only to find fraud losses rising in unexpected ways. Unfortunately, these aren’t abstract problems. They’re real-world cracks in the system that I’ve seen again and again in my work with banks and fintechs, and vulnerability research. They’re also perfect examples of why having a criminologist inside your team can change the game. Let’s solve some of these problems together using criminological understanding and fraud prevention by design principles.
Are your KPIs preventing you from spotting scam callers?
Lets think about account takeovers through call centres. Fraudsters are well-prepared: they have stolen personal data, they know the right tone to use, and they lean hard on pressure and urgency. Agents, measured on speed, get outplayed.
But what if you flipped the script – literally. Drawing on criminological research into persuasion and behavioural science insights (think Kahneman’s fast “System 1” vs slower “System 2” thinking), what if you employ call-centre scripts that are designed to interrupt the flow of a fraudster’s rehearsed routine. Training staff on “pattern interrupts” – questions or pauses that force a coached caller to break character.
Next how about we shift the KPIs. Instead of rewarding agents purely for fast call times, we introduce measures that valued quality of verification and escalation. Suddenly, agents aren’t rushing. They have the space to identify, challenge and escalate.
The result? Fewer successful social-engineering attempts, more confident staff, and safer customers.
Smarter than a smartphone
Fraud doesn’t always look like fraud at first glance. Take device theft. When a phone is stolen, most customers don’t ring their bank – they just replace the handset. On the bank’s system, nothing looks out of the ordinary. But for a fraudster, that stolen device is the perfect gateway into mobile banking.
By mapping the entire device-change journey, we can identify how banking app processes were fustrating legitimate customers, while letting fraudsters slip through the cracks. The criminological insight here is simple but powerful: offenders thrive where controls create “asymmetrical pressure.” If customers feel the pain but criminals find the loopholes, you’ve designed a system that rewards crime.
The fix doesnt need to be expensive or high-tech. It is about rebalancing the process: adding proportionate checks at key stages, building in out-of-band confirmations, and giving staff the tools to monitor fraud linked specifically to device changes. Suddenly, the bank can seethe problem properly for the first time – and losses drop.
What a Criminologist Sees That Others Miss
Fraud teams, AML teams, compliance officers, data scientists – they all bring essential skills. But they don’t always have the criminological lens. That lens asks different questions:
Criminology doesn’t replace compliance or tech. It makes them sharper. It helps fraud leaders see not just what is happening, but why.
The “Secret Weapon” for Fraud Leaders
I often describe my role to clients this way: I’m the secret weapon in the fraud leader’s back pocket. I’m not there to fight with internal teams or slow things down. I’m there to give you the insight and independence you need to:
Specialist consultants like me can help you uncover and fix weaknesses. But the institutions that will really stay ahead are those that bring criminology in-house. Why? Because fraud is adaptive. It mutates. By the time you’ve patched one hole, offenders are already working on the next. Real prvention comes with a commitment to innovation and designing out crime before it happens.
