GBG expands mobile network operator data coverage in North America and Europe to help businesses combat identity fraud in real-time

Extended mobile data coverage supports GBG’s mission to drive international identity inclusion with secure, alternative data sets

27 March 2024, LONDON: GBG, the global expert in digital location, identity verification and fraud prevention software, today announces it has expanded its mobile operator data coverage to include US, Canada, Spain, and Germany to help more businesses around the world combat identity fraud in real-time. Along with the addition of new territories, the leading expert in digital identity continues to provide mobile intelligence coverage and expertise in the UK and France.

Identifying fraud and social engineering in real-time

As the threat of identity fraud continues to grow, mobile operator data is key to further strengthening multi-level identity and fraud prevention strategies and enabling businesses to onboard more good customers globally.

With a rich variety of data attributes, GBG’s mobile authentication solution supports organisations to confidently confirm a mobile identity is genuine as well as detect and flag mobile fraud signals in real-time. As a result, fraudsters can be more accurately identified at the point of onboarding, protecting businesses against costly origination fraud, whilst also monitoring for suspicious in-life customer behaviour. Furthermore, this is attained without impacting the customer experience, as checks are carried out passively in the background, ensuring a seamless customer journey.

Gus Tomlinson, Chief Product Officer, Identity and Fraud at GBG, said, “With over six billion mobile users worldwide, mobile phones have become a natural extension of our identities. Each person’s mobile number is unique and, in many cases, stays with them longer than traditional identity documents like passports and driving licenses. As a result, mobile data is vital data source for businesses to tap into to better understand an individual and determine whether they can be trusted.

In fact, layering mobile data within an identity strategy is key to building a robust defence against one of the fastest growing fraud risks for financial services organisations - Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. While APP fraud is traditionally difficult to prevent as scammers trick victims into willingly transferring money for goods or services that never materialise, indicators of this type of social engineering or account takeover can be detected in real-time through suspicious mobile activity.

Our international expansion of GBG’s mobile operator data is part of our ongoing commitment to protect businesses around the globe from identity fraud without sacrificing the customer experience.”

Supporting identity inclusion for thin-file and new-to-country consumers

GBG’s international expansion of its mobile authentication solution also supports its mission to drive international identity inclusion by helping to build an accurate level of confidence on thin-file and new-to-country customers as well as within markets where traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) data sources are not available.

Gus continues, “Still, millions of people globally do not hold traditional identity documents. Those without these types of identifying factors are often the most excluded and vulnerable in society. And, if we only relied on traditional identification methods, these people could be further excluded and unable to access digital goods and services.

“Used in combination with other alternative data sources, mobile data can be layered with traditional identity verification information to make it possible to safely to verify individual that may otherwise not meet requirements without the insight mobile data provides.”

GBG’s expanded mobile data coverage can be seamlessly integrated into the customer journey via a single API and easily combined with its portfolio of identity and fraud prevention solutions. GBG continues to partner with Sekura.id, a leading global provider of mobile identity data, to support its mobile data expansion.

Keiron Dalton, Chief Product Officer, at Sekura.id, said: “We continue to be ever more happy working with our partner GBG, one of the industry’s leading experts in digital identity, to deliver our unique Mobile Identity services to their impressive and growing roster of customers around the world. A great long-term partnership just got better.”

To find out more, visit our website here: https://www.gbgplc.com/en/products/id-verification/mobile-authentication/

About GBG

GBG is the leading expert in global digital identity. We combine our powerful technology, the most accurate data coverage, and our talented team to deliver award-winning location intelligence, identity verification and fraud prevention solutions.

With over 30 years’ experience, we bring together a team of over 1,250 dedicated experts with local industry insight from around the world to make it easy for businesses to identify and verify customers and locations, protecting everyone, everywhere from fraud.

Learn more at www.gbgplc.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @gbgplc.

About Sekura.id

Founded in July 2019, Sekura.id is a truly global company based in Norfolk, United Kingdom. At Sekura’s heart is Mobile Identity and key to this is the unique API platform architected by the same people who invented the original identity APIs and brought a nascent industry together to monetise operator data and provide identity solutions for millions of people. Sekura.id works directly with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in over 20 countries across six continents handling the subscriber data of millions of their customers securely, with full data compliance, providing an end user with a secure and swift onboard or login authorised by their SIM card preventing fraud and exposure to scams.