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Councils across Britain are experimenting with lie detector computer software that is designed to spot people making false claims for benefits.
The technology is set to be used in Merseyside and Edinburgh after successful trials showed that it can catch-out benefit cheats.
The software programme analyses speech patterns in phone conversations and flags-up dodgy "high risk" claims for further investigation.
Those deemed a "low risk" will have their claim for housing or council tax benefit processed without further in speeding up the process for the majority of people.
Seven UK local authorities tested the idea for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to use "voice risk analysis" to investigate possible cheats.
Wirral Borough Council on Merseyside and Edinburgh City Council will be among the first authorities to use the software on all new claimants.
Wirral Council's Labour Leader Cllr Steve Foulkes said: "We have been offered the chance to pilot this software at no cost to the taxpayer.
"We’re a go-ahead council and like to consider new things.
"We are aware that people may have concerns about civil liberties.
"This would only suggest to us that something may not be suitable to be decided over the phone.
"This is all about us being comfortable doing more phone transactions which is convenient for most users."
Callers will be asked a series of straight questions to create a baseline" of truthful answers.
The DWP has earmarked #1.5m to test local authority interest in the technology across the country.
During the first test in Lambeth, 377 people were identified as fiddling their benefits, saving the system around £450,000.
Edinburgh City Council Finance Leader Gordon Mackenzie said: "The focus is on speeding up the genuine applications and dealing with them quickly.
"We can then carry out more detailed reviews of cases where our screening suggests there might be a higher risk.
"Some people do make fraudulent benefit claims or can afford to pay council tax but have chosen not to.
"This is unfair on the majority of residents and means that the council has less money to spend on vital services for people in Edinburgh."
Anti-Fraud Minister, James Plaskitt has made #1.5m available for the schemes to be implemented.
Mr Plaskitt said: "Overall, the huge majority of people who receive benefits are entitled to them.
"However, there is a minority who will still try to steal money from those people who are most vulnerable.
"We need to continue to do more to make sure that taxpayers' money always goes to those who need it the most.
"News from the pilots is positive and encouraging - they show that this technology is helping to combat benefit fraud.
"It is also making it quicker and easier to review claims, especially for those people who are genuinely entitled to benefits."
How it works:-
Voice analysis technology spots changes in a caller's voice and allows trained operators to decide whether a call is high or low risk.
Calls are handled by staff trained in intelligent questioning and various forms of behavioural analysis, which allows them to assess the level of risk in the conversation.
In addition, computer software is used to support the operator's analysis.
The technology analyses changes in voice frequency and performs thousands of mathematical calculations to identify different categories of emotional content.
The patterns associated with these categories allow the technology to identify genuine callers.
At the beginning of each call, the characteristics of a customer's voice frequency are sampled to establish a benchmark - taking into account any pre-existing emotions.
The benchmark is used during a conversation as a guide for analysing changes in frequency caused by a change in emotion.
