Real-time address verification for mobile

Due to rapidly accelerating mobile adoption, the need for mobile identity verification has grown exponentially during the pandemic. This growing need has driven waves of innovation, including increased usage of identity-centric technologies, such as optical character recognition (OCR) for document scanning, facial recognition, and liveness detection. In addition, device-centric technologies such as device fingerprinting and behavioral biometrics are gaining more widespread adoption to help detect bots and anomalous behavior. 

Unfortunately, despite innovations in both device and identity-centric technologies, fraudsters continue to find ways to bypass defenses. This hurts financial services companies and online retailers that face losses due not only to fraud, but an increasingly bad customer experience due to security checks.

Why are new innovations in device and identity-centric technologies failing to stop fraud? What is the missing link?

Until now, most device-centric technology solutions have not been synchronized or connected with innovations in identity-centric solutions. For example, device fingerprinting technology has not historically been directly linked to the user's online identity credentials. However, with the majority of online transactions now happening on mobile, new opportunities are opening up to connect device-centric and identity-centric technologies for improved identity verification.

With Incognia it is now possible to use location sensors on a mobile device to identify and connect a user’s location behavior and a user’s supplied home address, in real-time. A home address is one of the most critical user credentials requested at digital onboarding for identity verification processes. Until now, the user’s location behavior, and its correlation to that home address, is a data point that is typically overlooked. 

On mobile, it is no longer sufficient to just verify if an address exists or the IP address or GPS location matches the provided address. Fraudsters today routinely use tools to conceal their real location using VPNs, proxies, GPS spoofing apps, or mobile emulators.

This is where device and location behavior intelligence and Incognia come into play. By analyzing the continuous stream of sensor information from a mobile device, using a proprietary technology called environment fingerprinting, Incognia can identify location spoofing and precisely determine the device’s actual location. Also, Incognia learns the patterns unique to each device and starts anonymously attributing context to each device and location, such as the device owner’s home location and work location.

With this new layer of location and device intelligence, mobile apps can now link users’ devices to user-declared credentials. When a user starts an identity verification process, the user-supplied home address is compared to the device's location behavioral signals. If there is a good match, it means that the device is closely linked to the user’s identity, lowering the risk of accepting that customer's application.

Another exciting aspect of this identity verification technique is that it doesn't require the storage of any direct personal identification, including the address, which is discarded after verification.

A frictionless mobile identity verification experience drives long-term gains for companies through higher customer retention and lower acquisition costs. Implementing a real-time address verification process enables faster customer onboarding and guarantees that the customer’s first experience with your company is positive and seamless.

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To learn more about real-time address verification using Incognia read more here>>