How Financial Service Companies Are Using Phone Number Data to Mitigate Fraud

iconectiv’s Digital Identity platform leverages porting data for identity verification, fraud prevention and risk management.

• What’s the News? A new use case from iconectiv showcases how global financial services companies can use numbering data to bolster security measures and mitigate fraud. 
• Why it Matters? As fraudsters increasingly target mobile devices and communication networks, iconectiv data exchanges flag recently ported phone numbers, offering a reliable method to verify the accuracy of a phone number for identification purposes. 
• Who it’s for: Global financial services companies.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J – April 22, 2024 – With mobile phones expected to become the primary source of identity for billions of people this year, phone numbers are the logical way for businesses to contact and authenticate customers. They’re also a prime target for exploitation. Sophisticated fraudsters target phone numbers, leading to fake accounts and purchases that undermine businesses’ bottom lines and erode consumer trust. 

In this evolving battle against a global cartel of hackers and fraudsters, financial services companies face the challenge of managing diverse and inconsistent data sources for identity verification. While several data points or attributes comprise an individual’s digital identity —the most common being name, email, physical address, IP address and phone number—the phone number has quickly emerged as the key personal identifier globally.  

iconectiv’s Digital Identity solution is specifically designed to leverage phone number intelligence to address these challenges, including proactively flagging recently ported phone numbers and unallocated and premium numbers as indicators of increased risk. Offering a reliable method to verify the accuracy of a phone number for identification purposes, the platform presents data in a canonical format covering numbering and country codes worldwide, along with metadata such as phone company and line type. This data helps companies facilitate real-time verification, simplify data analysis and strengthen fraud prevention efforts.

“The dramatic rise in the rate of digital impersonation leaves companies—most of them operating on multiple continents—challenged with sorting through massive amounts of data to protect themselves and their customers at every step of the customer engagement process—from registration to login to transaction and event monitoring,” said Peter Ford, Executive Vice President, iconectiv. “Our financial services customers find that the data inherent in phone numbers is an indispensable signal in the verification and authentication process. Plus, it is easier to manage, and the streamlined delivery requires less computing power to analyze a global scale.”

iconectiv’s Digital Identity solution offers financial service companies simplified delivery of critical data insights, reducing the risk of errors and false verifications. Shareable across internal teams and departments, this important data is easily ingestible into existing systems, processes and workflows. As a result, financial services companies can quickly categorize customers into the correct risk ratings, save valuable resources, reduce customer friction and make more informed assessments to protect their business and their bottom line. 

To learn more about iconectiv’s digital identity portfolio and TruNumber platform, download the use case and visit www.iconectiv.com/digital-identity.