November 30, 2007 — For consumers concerned about identity theft, Carlson Marketing and VoiceVerified have teamed up to offer consumers safer, simpler and more secure access to their accounts. Instead of having to manage PINs and passwords or divulge personal information, access is granted by the sound of a person’s voice, their unforgettable password™.

“This gives our clients an unbelievable edge with their customers, in terms of customer satisfaction and brand differentiation,” said Andy Wright, executive vice president, Global Marketing Services, Carlson Marketing. “It has a huge ‘cool’ factor; it’s totally secure; and it actually reduces contact center costs.”

For the seventh year in a row, concerns over identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s list of consumer complaints. No wonder: identity theft costs have exceeded $50 billion annually for the past few years. At the heart of efforts to mitigate identity theft is strengthening the process of granting account access to assure that only legitimate account holders get through. (Read the rest of this article)

Leaco’s Verbal ID™ is the nation’s first deployment of a voice biometric identity authentication service by a telephone company.

NEW HOPE, PA. NOVEMBER 12, 2007 - Taking a bold stand to protect its customers from identity theft, Leaco Rural Telephone Cooperative, the leading provider of wired and wireless telecommunications and high speed Internet services for Southeastern New Mexico, announced today that it has deployed Verbal ID™, its brand of voice biometric service from VoiceVerified® Inc. of New Hope, Pa.

Using the authentication services of VoiceVerified®, Hobbs, NM-based Leaco is now able to protect its customers against identity theft using a streamlined call flow process that eliminates the need for passwords, access codes and disclosure of private information. This allows callers to use their voice, their unforgettable password™, thereby providing greater accuracy, flexibility and security which results in a superior customer experience. Leaco is the first telecommunications provider in the United States to deploy this technology as an integral part of its ID & A strategy. (Read the rest of this article)

Hosted Speech Solutions - For Enterprise and Service Provider Markets
November / December 2007

The man from New Hope has the answer. The question is: What can be done about an identity theft problem that is stealing billions of dollars from american businesses and consumers?

In an August 2007 ComputerWorld article entitled “Your Data’s Less Safe Today Than Two Years Ago,” Gartner Group analyst Avivah Litan said that identity theft attacks have spiked all the way to a “50% increase since 2003.” She further claims that 15-million Americans were victimized in just a 12-month period. The “average loss per incident,” Litan said, “was $3,257.” That figure is “more than twice” what it had been.
(Read the rest of this article)