Prevent Account Takeover Attempts with Utility Bill Verification

In recent years account takeover fraud has been on the rise in the financial industry. The pandemic and the increased reliance on digital banking have created the perfect opportunity for fraudsters – leading to a 20 percent increase in account takeovers in the financial industry in 2020. This surge calls for additional security measures to prevent account takeover attempts. Direct and digital access to utility bills for identity verification can provide financial institutions with an added layer of security to minimize account takeovers.

Account takeover use cases

As digital banking continues to increase, the main concern is the safety surrounding personal account information. In Q4 2020 alone, account takeover incidents increased by 650 percent compared to Q1 and impacted 24 million US households over the course of the year. To gain access to financial accounts, fraudsters rely on techniques like phishing or malware to acquire credentials. Once they gain access, these accounts can be subject to: 

• Account draining 
• Money laundering 
• Money muling 
• Credit applications

In Q4 2020 alone, account takeover incidents increased by 650% compared to Q1.

Regularly monitor customer accounts

Account takeover fraud can easily be missed if companies are not doing consistent check-ins. To spot these bad actors, banks need to implement security measures and protocols to identify fraudulent activity and prevent account takeover. 56 percent of consumers use the same password across multiple accounts. Increased login attempts, high chargeback volumes, and even sudden spikes in password reset requests are a sign of account takeover attempts and are more likely to be caught with consistent monitoring.

 

Friction Is the Future: High Risk, High Security ID Verification

 

To truly support account takeover prevention, businesses have to provide a secure experience for their customers. Incorporating reliable identity verification documentation like utility bills directly from the provider can improve bank account security.

Increase security with utility account verification

Investing in reliable authentication and user-friendly methods is essential to customers’ safety. Utility bill identity and address verification add another level of security to the account verification process. By using direct access to utility accounts, businesses are able to prevent account takeover efforts using reliable data.

Utility bill identity and address verification add another level of security to the account verification process.

With utility account verification, identity verification goes beyond the initial password and username combination that most companies use. Adding another verification barrier makes it harder for hackers to get access.

Prevent account takeover attempts with direct utility bill access 

Incorporating digital utility bill access into the account verification process will reassure your customers of the importance of security. Urjanet’s identity verification platform grants you access to digital utility bills from thousands of providers. Your customers can easily enter their credentials to connect their accounts and verify their identities. Make account takeover prevention a priority and contact our utility data experts today to get started.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

• Fake Identities, Real Crimes: Preventing Synthetic Identity Fraud
• Who’s Who? Identity Verification in a Digital World
• Case Study: Global Identity Verification Platform Enhances User Experience

---

---