How a Top 10 Financial Institution Got Ahead of Its OTP Fraud Problem

Account takeover fraud is accelerating. Fraudsters have become sophisticated at compromising one-time passcodes (OTP) through SIM swapping, call forwarding and phone reassignment — intercepting the very security codes organizations rely on to protect their customers.

This top 10 financial institution was among those feeling the impact. Significant account takeover fraud was hitting multiple lines of business, and the institution lacked the resources to give each one the data and intelligence needed to respond effectively. Fragmented identity and KYC solutions made the problem worse — creating friction, limiting scalability and preventing a clear view of risk across the customer lifecycle.

Working with TransUnion® fraud experts, the bank adopted a unified, risk-based framework for protecting customer accounts — from origination through high-value transactions.

TruValidate™ Phone Takeover Risk, paired with the financial institution’s OTP solution, helps tell if a customer’s phone number has been compromised before an OTP sent. Drawing on direct carrier relationships and continuously corroborated identity data, TransUnion flags high-risk numbers in real time, identifying SIM swaps, call forwarding and reassigned phones before a security code can be intercepted.

Rather than managing fragmented solutions across different lines of business, the financial institution consolidated identity, carrier and phone attribute data through TransUnion. Individual business units set their own risk thresholds based on the specific transactions they handle.

With phone risk established before every OTP is sent, the institution closed the gap fraudsters had been exploiting. The organization was now able identify risk at different stages along the customer journey, including account origination, account changes, wire transfer requests, Zelle® transactions and loan requests. Account takeover fraud went down significantly, with no negative impact to the customer experience.

Learn more about securing your OTP process from phone takeover risk.