Mobile and Banking Industries Join Forces to Fight Fraud

This article is brought to you in association with the GSMA.

GSMA and UK Finance convened mobile operators and banks in the UK to deliver Scam Signal, a new solution to combat fraud 

5 November 2024, London: GSMA and UK Finance have joined forces to provide a collaborative framework for the UK’s leading mobile network operators and banks to develop and launch Scam Signal, a new solution to help address Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud in the UK. Scam Signal is launching as a collaboration between mobile network operators EE, Virgin Media O2, Three, Vodafone and UK Finance members, including NatWest, participating on behalf of the banking industry.

The new solution, which is delivered via an Application Programmable Interface (API), enables banks to better identify and stop fraudulent bank transfers by analysing real-time network data and identifying correlations between phone calls and fraudulent bank transfers.

Data from UK Finance shows that £213.7 million was lost to APP fraud in the first half of 2024. This is where criminals manipulate customers into transferring money to a criminal. In terms of the value of losses, 35 per cent of APP losses originated from scams which started through telecommunication. This is where criminals contact victims through SMS and telephone often purporting to be from legitimate organisations, such as a bank.

To help protect UK banking customers, GSMA and UK Finance began discussions between their members to understand how the high volumes of real-time mobile network data could help UK banking identify suspicious calls and other activities. Through a series of workshops with MNO and bank representatives, and the modelling and analysis of network data, correlations with fraudulent bank transfers were identified which formed the basis of the Scam Signal solution.

Early development of Scam Signal was spearheaded by Vodafone, with the mobile operator completing a successful three-month pilot project which resulted in scam detection improving by 30 per cent at a major UK bank.

Dianne Doodnath, Principal of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said: “Fraud remains a major problem, with our data showing that over £210 million was stolen by criminals through APP fraud in the first half of 2024. APP fraud originating from telephone calls or SMS continues to be of higher value and accounted for 35 per cent of losses.

“To address social engineering tactics used by criminals, cross-industry collaboration has once again proven critical. Working with GSMA has been invaluable in making UK mobile network operators available to support and analyse data with our financial services members. This collaboration has resulted in a strong solution that should have a real impact by identifying criminal activity and increasing fraud detection.”

Brian Gorman, Fintech Lead at GSMA, said: “It is great to see the result of our members’ collaboration directly addressing that problem and providing significant benefit to the UK public – Scam Signal is already detecting fraudulent calls and stopping transactions to criminals. Delivering this solution was made possible by the close collaboration between our members and UK Finance and its members; and we are looking forward to continuing our valuable work together.”

As demonstrated by the success to-date of the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative, the API economy is critical to unlocking mobile network capabilities and leveraging industry insights to support a growing range of services, including anti-fraud and identification APIs. Spanning the globe from Brazil to China, Germany to South Africa, we are seeing the mobile industry come together to launch universal network APIs such as SIM Swap and Number Verify to combat online fraud and protect customers.  

The GSMA’s Connected Fintech and Commerce community supports new initiatives, such as API development via GSMA Open Gateway, by providing a platform to explore mobile capabilities in areas such as financial inclusion, fraud solutions, payments, super apps, insurance, credit risk scoring and more. Register your interest in the GSMA’s Connected Fintech and Commerce community here.