Fraud prevention in businesses can be simplified with the right tools, and AtData’s Fraud Prevention solution is designed for this purpose. To delve deeper, we spoke with Timothy Li, CEO of Alchemy and a FinTech expert, who shared insights on using email as a tool for fraud prevention. To know more about strategies for email address fraud prevention
How Does AtData’s Fraud Prevention Work?
AtData’s service assesses emails using key metrics, including:
- Date First Seen: The first time AtData encountered the email.
- Longevity: Indicates how long the email has been active.
- Velocity: Measures the email’s activity over the past six months.
- Popularity: Shows how frequently the email has been used in the past 12 months.
- Validation: Detects invalid or risky emails.
- Domain Check: Flags dangerous domains.
- Tumbling Check: Identifies variations of the same email used by fraudsters.
- Fraud Consortium: Reports fraudulent emails based on network data.
Li emphasizes the importance of email age, stating that longer-active emails are likely legitimate, while newer, less active ones may be fraudulent. Combining these metrics with a company’s first-party data can enhance fraud detection and reduce fake leads.
Email Red Flags to Watch For:
Li suggests watching for these warning signs in email addresses:
- Too Many Numbers: Especially if unrelated to birth years.
- Swear Words: Emails containing offensive language.
- Inappropriate Length: Emails that are either too short or too long.
- No Identity Indicator: Lack of personal information like a name or birthdate.
- Same Phone Number Across Multiple Emails: Fraudsters may attach one phone number to many emails.
- Similar Email Patterns: Slight variations in fraudulent email addresses, like tower.data21@gmail.com and tower.data22@gmail.com.
In FinTech, mismatched emails between account registration and applications, or repeated passwords across multiple emails, are also signs of fraud.
Why Email is Targeted by Fraudsters
Li explains that emails are easy and cost-free to create, making them a common tool for fraudsters to test a company’s defenses. Email activity metrics are critical for identifying potential fraud early.
Protecting Your CRM’s Integrity with Real Emails
Fraudulent data infiltrates various industries, from ticket sales to lead generation and even fraud prevention services. Li advises that businesses must combine as many data points as possible to detect email discrepancies.
As fraud prevention evolves, location data will also play a key role. For example, in lending, if an applicant’s location shows no recent activity, this could suggest they’re not employed, making them a poor candidate for a loan. Similarly, in student lending, lack of movement could imply the applicant isn’t attending school as claimed.
In conclusion, using email analysis as a fraud prevention tool is crucial to preserving your CRM’s integrity, regardless of your industry. AtData’s Fraud Prevention service can help you detect fraudulent emails early on. Learn more about how we can assist your business in combating fraud.
