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Ekata introduces Account Opening API

By Robin Amlot

October 15, 2020

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Seattle-based digital identity verification specialist Ekata has launched an Account Opening API, designed to take action on high-risk accounts to mitigate losses from synthetic identity fraud. The Account Opening API identifies potential bad actors from good customers during the online application process.

Recent studies have found that synthetic identity fraud is the fastest growing type of financial crime in the US. It is estimated that more than 60% of fraud losses for US banks stem from identity fraud, and 20% of that fraud is synthetic identity fraud.  According to the American Bankers Association, synthetic fraud costs lenders more than $6 billion annually, and the average loss is estimated at $10,000 per account.

“As more traditional personally identifiable information is compromised online, it’s easier for fraudsters to create and foster synthetic identities,” said Bhavana Mathur, Vice President of Product Management at Ekata. “This type of fraud is difficult to detect because aspects of the identity are valid, and often they slip through during the account opening process. Ekata’s Account Opening API uses static and dynamic data insights to help detect and prevent this type of cybercrime from the start.”Key features of the Account Opening API include:

  • Identity risk score – Comprehensive risk score that combines dynamic data across five core identity elements (name, phone, email, address, IP) as well as their usage patterns.
  • Identity network score – Predictive risk score built on usage patterns of identity elements across real-world queries from Ekata’s network.
  • Network signals – Returns three proprietary signals to assess the riskiness of the location address (IP last seen), the phone (phone last seen), and the relationship of the phone and email provided (phone and email first seen).
  • Minimal input requirements – Only requires two common inputs to initiate the verification process: either phone or email and IP address. All other inputs are optional.
  • Scalability – Flexibility to support massive, sustained query-per-second volume requirements while reliably retaining low latencies.

“Cybercrime is more sophisticated than ever, but by utilizing dynamic identity elements and real-world usage patterns, issuing agencies have a better chance at detecting and deterring fraudulent accounts, while still allowing valid accounts without excess friction,” Mathur added.

Ekata’s product suite is powered by the Ekata Identity Engine (EIE), the first cross-border identity verification engine of its kind. It uses complex machine learning algorithms across the five core consumer attributes of email, phone, name (person or business), physical address, and IP, to derive unique data links and features from billions of real-time transactions within the Ekata proprietary network and data licensed from a broad spectrum of global providers.

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