Janrain now includes a phone number-based fraud detector

Identity service says this kind of onboard fraud score is the first of its kind.

Chat with MarTechBot

Businessman Smartphone Ss 1920 Ktudh7

Identity management provider Janrain is announcing what it says is the first anti-fraud, phone number-based detection built into this kind of service. The Portland, Oregon-based company enables a website visitor to use their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media credentials when they log in.

Director of Product Marla Hay told me that no other identity service, including the one from competitor Gigya, offers such a built-in, automatic anti-fraud scanning of a phone number. Phone numbers, she noted, tend to be more definitive identifiers than, say, email addresses.

When a user registers as a new subscriber on a site, Janrain will automatically validate whether the submitted phone number is active or whether it is associated with some fraudulent activity. The service can now also scan existing subscriber records, when there is an attempt to log in and be authenticated.

If someone moves and has not changed their phone number, the fraud score may reflect that the number is no longer valid. Hay noted that mobile numbers tend to change less frequently, since people often keep them even after moving.

The service also determines if the user’s IP address is connected with fraud. The phone number or IP address, for instance, could be connected with spam, or with attempts to log into sites multiple times.

If the phone number or IP address is definitely fraudulent, the resulting score will clearly show that, she said. If there are gray areas, the score will show less-than-spectacular results, so the site can make a decision.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Barry Levine
Contributor
Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

Get the must-read newsletter for marketers.