The Telecommunications Industry has seen exponential growth over the past years and is rapidly thriving because of its significance in IoT (Internet of Things) and the evolution of 5G technologies. Due to the fact that money is closely tied with telecom activities, the industry is always at the potential risk of being targeted by fraudsters and cybercriminals. Apart from that, there exists a high switching rate which makes it difficult for companies to engage customers.
To counter both aspects, online document verification presents a viable solution for customer authentication and defense against online fraud.
Revenue, Evolution, and Authentication in Telecom
According to a survey conducted by Statista, the estimated worldwide income of telecom services is almost €1.13 billion with almost 54% of them coming from mobile revenues. Recently with the evolution of online banking and mobile financial services, online scammers have found new means of propagating their illegitimate pursuits. Traditional document verification methods are antiquated and being outwitted using clever means by online scammers.
To tackle the increasing identity theft, online document verification incorporates photo-based identity documents to verify the subscriber’s identity which ensures Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) standards.
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The Impact of Identity Theft
Just like other businesses, the Telecom industry is no exception and is subjected to identity theft or more precisely subscription fraud. The estimated cost of telecommunications fraud per year is almost €29 billion. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are facing a backlog of fraudulent activities.
that are being carried out using synthetic identities and stolen credentials of victim subscribers. The GSMA annual report on digital identity states that there exist more than 200 types of telecommunication frauds that are related to fabrication and identity theft.
A common type of fraud is the swapping of SIM cards in which identity criminals acquire illegal access to someone else’s SIM card. The credentials are stolen by means of fake IDs and are later used to authenticate transactions.
This can cause serious loss to the victim as the fraudster can use his identity to even validate bank purchases without the actual subscriber not knowing. The very risk of identity fraud creates a sense of fear in the customers as their credentials are constantly at the risk of being compromised.
The Innovation of Online Document Verification
Where synthetic identity crime and unauthorized use of individual resources pose a potential vulnerability, traditional digital document verification fails to provide a comprehensive solution to all underlying problems. This is when online document authentication brings innovation to the table by providing secure means of validating customer identity using state-of-the-art KYC procedures and Anti Money Laundering obligations.
The Telecom industry can rely on online document verification services, to validate their subscriber identity using national ID documents, passports, utility bills, or any other government-issued document which can serve the purpose of identity verification.
What Service Providers Have in Store?
Document verification vendors could provide MNOs with the credibility their customers are looking for in the company. Almost 85% of countries keep a record of the subscriber they are onboarding and need to obtain the relevant identity information of their customer.
With the power of verifying documents at the comfort of one’s home, mobile service providers can flourish their market reputation and build a credible subscriber base, ultimately reducing friction in client onboarding.
Moreover, a competitive identity verification suite comes with the benefit of document verification using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which is not only accurate in its approach but is also time-efficient. This not only provides MNOs with automated means of increasing security but also practicing KYC effortlessly.
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