By Jo Best, 5 April 2007 13:10
NEWS
Benefit cheats could be caught out thanks to the introduction of new lie-detecting tech, according to the government.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today announced a pilot of the technology by Harrow Council which will use voice risk analysis on would-be claimants to identify suspicious cases.
By analysing changes in callers' voices, the system will be able to indicated a level of risk and predict how likely the claim is to be fraudulent. Any callers flagged up as potential benefit cheats will then be asked to provide further evidence to support the veracity of their claim.
The use of voice stress analysis systems was first pioneered by the insurance industry to detect customers putting in bogus claims.
A sample of each claimant's voice is taken at the start of the call. Benefit agents will then question the claimants while the voice stress analysis will measure the speaker against their initial sample to see if changes in their voice might indicate the speaker is lying.
The pilot will see would-be claimants of housing benefit and council tax benefit put under the microscope from next month. Jobcentre Plus is also planning to experiment with the technology later this year.
Comments
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1. anonymous
I suggest they ought to point the lie detector in the opposite direction. As someone who has recently come off the dole, their staff repeatedly lied about progress on my claim, lied about 'grants and benefits' I would be entitled to receive if I got a job, and, since I have written letters of complaint about it, will probably lie some more in response.
2. Antony Norris
Pioneered by the insurance industry and roundly found to be useless. There are many reasons people get stressed during a conversation, especially when it deals with important issues, ie. will I get my benefit and be able to eat next week or will I be thrown out of my house. Hopefully this is just scare tactics to put off would be benefit cheats, and not seriously considered.
3. Bill Citrine
The system should be an add-on to your HDTV... then we could all have a laugh at Question Time!
4. anonymous
This person has my full sympathy. I know full well how the dole office will lie simply to get a 'difficult' client out of the say (Difficult client being one who asks relevent and pertinent questions)..
When I got my job, I had nothing but a car and credit card, which I had to live off for at least one month. I had nowhere to live, and I was refused housing or any form of help, because I was in work, despite the dole office promising me I got a months living allowance whilst I worked my first month.
I did what the government said. I went the length and breadth of the country to get a job, and when I got one, the support infrastructure to enable me to carry out that job (ie live within commutable distance, support while my first wage came through) simply did not exist.
When my (now ex) wife came to visit me, she was told by her dole office to sign on in my new home town, to be told that was not possible by the dole office in my home town, and as such she lost a weeks benefit.
Classic case of lying to get her off their backs and deny her money. These DHSS people act as if its THEIR money they are giving away, when its actually mine by virtue of the extortionate taxes I pay for absolutely nothing.
Lie detectors.. What a load of twaddle.
--Anonymous Said
"!I suggest they ought to point the lie detector in the opposite direction. As someone who has recently come off the dole, their staff repeatedly lied about progress on my claim, lied about 'grants and benefits' I would be entitled to receive if I got a job, and, since I have written letters of complaint about it, will probably lie some more in response."
5. Radical Meldrew
The PM's question time should have a detector with 'on screen results' added to the TV image. If its good enough for the goose............???