A voice-based biometric recognition system launched by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to streamline authentication during calls has enrolled 30,000 users since being launched a fortnight ago, the ATO revealed on 8 September.

The ATO says the speaker verification system, which uses a digital representation of the sound, rhythm, physical characteristics and patterns in a voice, will speed up calls and help to deter, prevent and detect identity theft.

The tax office says that it receives around eight million calls per year from the community and for about 75% of these calls it needs to verify identities, with the current system using password and answer-based verification systems.

The new voice-based system enrols users by giving them the option to repeat a phrase when prompted during tax calls. This recording is then used to create the voiceprint.

While the project was revealed in May, an ATO privacy policy document published in March stated: “We maintain a voiceprint database which may in the future become a whole of government voiceprint database”.

The system is part of a digital initiative started by the ATO 12 to 18 months ago.

ATO assistant commissioner John Dardo told the Biometrics Institute Asia Pacific Conference in Sydney in May that the technology would also prove useful for outgoing calls, reported ComputerWorld.

This is because currently ATO staff can’t current proceed with outgoing calls until customers provide details such as their date of birth and bank account number, with Dardo noting that this can make the calls seem like a scam.

“We need to move away from that,” he said. “Voice authentication in a passive mode allows us to … have a quick conversation about the weather or the footy and by then we know enough to start divulging material about his account.”