Embracing Data Consortiums to Prevent Payments Fraud
- Tech Against Scams is a new anti-fraud consortium
- Escalating fraud leads to needed coordination among social media, dating apps, financial institutions, and crypto firms
- About a third of Big Tech and FinTech firms have experienced fraud in recent months
PYMNTS.COM reports on Tech Against Scams is a newly announced anti-fraud consortium that includes crypto companies Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, and Gemini; dating app business Match Group; social media parent company Meta; and the Global Anti-Scam Organization. The consortium aims to respond to and prevent online fraud and financial scams by sharing data with competitors.
The rise of scams like "pig butchering" and crypto investment fraud has led to the need for coordination among social media, dating apps, financial institutions, and crypto firms in establishing a defense against these cybercriminals.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Sharing data with competitors can be challenging and concerning, but the state of cybercrime and financial crime has reframed the calculus, particularly for banks and other financial institutions. Consortiums allow members to pool data, creating a more comprehensive dataset than any single entity could assemble alone, and play a critical role in combating fraud.
Bryan Lewis, CEO at Intellicheck, advocated in an April discussion with PYMNTS for the development of consortiums, or secure ecosystems where multiple entities collaborate to verify individual identities, as well as data sharing as a means to bolster identity verification. By pooling resources and sharing verified data, he said, consortiums can establish a robust framework for identity validation, bolstering trust and confidence in financial transactions.
“If I am dealing with someone in a consortium, I know that they’ve received a stamp of approval,” Lewis said, stressing that security of information and personal details should be a paramount consideration.
Consortium: The Catalyst for Detecting Deposit Fraud?
Data-sharing consortiums are not a new concept for check fraud. Most are familiar with Early Warning Systems and Advanced Fraud Solutions and their database of shared-data. These are excellent tools in the fight against deposit fraud, as FIs can access the data to verify different facets such as insufficient funds, closed accounts, or even duplicate checks.
Fintechs like OrboGraph are also developing consortiums for check images. This will enable banks to not only access account and transactional data, but also compare deposited checks to previous cleared and previous flagged items.
Adding consortium data to transactional/behavioral analytics; image forensic AI; payee positive pay for commercial accounts; dark web monitoring -- all working together to create a strong, multi-layered approach to fighting check fraud.