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Rethinking Fraud Prevention in the Middle East & Africa

Written by provenirmulti on June 18, 2025. Posted in Webinars. No Comments on Rethinking Fraud Prevention in the Middle East & Africa

On-Demand Webinar

Rethinking Fraud Prevention in the Middle East & Africa

Fraud is accelerating across the Middle East & Africa, with $4B lost annually in banking fraud and 1 in 4 digital banking customers experiencing fraud attempts. Telecom operators in the region are also facing rising losses as fraudsters exploit gaps in traditional prevention methods.

Traditional fraud prevention systems—often reliant on static rules and siloed data—are no longer sufficient.

To combat this escalating threat, banks and telcos in MEA must embrace real-time, AI-driven risk decisioning and a holistic fraud strategy that integrates behavioural analytics, network intelligence, and collaborative data ecosystems. The time to act is now: as digital adoption accelerates, so too must innovation in fraud prevention.

Listen to this webinar to learn:

Why static rules aren’t enough and how AI-driven fraud prevention adapts in real-time. The role of real-time data orchestration in creating a 360-degree risk view.
How machine learning is transforming fraud prevention by predicting and blocking threats.
Why an integrated fraud and risk decisioning platform is key to stopping emerging threats.

Moderator

Sophia Qureshi

Provenir

VP, Product Management, Fraud Solutions

Panelists

Msimisi Fakudze
Senior Manager, Fraud Management
David Vigar
Telesign
VP Sales
Frédéric Dubout
Provenir
Principal Consultant

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Customer Story: Femsa

Written by provenirmulti on June 16, 2025. Posted in Customer Story.

Beyond the Selfie: Why Digital ID&V Isn’t the Silver Bullet for Modern Fraud

Written by Jason Abbott on June 16, 2025. Posted in Blog.

Beyond the Selfie:
Why Digital ID&V Isn’t the Silver Bullet for Modern Fraud

In our increasingly digital world, the promise of seamless customer onboarding and instant identity verification (ID&V) has led to the widespread adoption of digital document capture and selfie verification solutions. These technologies, often lauded for their speed and convenience, have undoubtedly revolutionized how businesses interact with their customers, enabling rapid scaling and a vastly improved user experience.

However, as a Fraud Solutions Director, my perspective is clear: digital ID&V, while foundational, is not the silver bullet for combating the sophisticated fraud threats of today.

The belief that a perfect document scan and a convincing liveness check are all that’s needed to secure an identity is a dangerous oversimplification. While these tools excel at verifying the apparent authenticity of a document and the presence of a live individual, they often fall short in detecting the more insidious forms of fraud that are costing businesses billions annually.

The Cracks in the Digital ID&V Facade
Why isn’t doc capture and selfie verification enough?

The Proliferation of Deepfakes and AI-Generated Identities:
Criminals now have readily accessible AI tools that can create incredibly realistic looking documents – from driver’s licenses to passports – in mere seconds. These tools can also generate convincing deepfake videos and images that can bypass basic liveness detection checks. What’s more, when criminals impersonate victims and add their face to a realistic false document, the initial verification step becomes void, as their face will match the fabricated ID, and they can successfully complete any liveness challenge. Relying solely on a visual assessment, whether human or automated, is becoming increasingly risky as the quality of these fraudulent artifacts improves exponentially.
Rampant Data Breaches Fueling Identity Fraud:
Data breaches are a relentless problem, constantly exposing vast quantities of personal identifiable information (PII). This exposure puts consumers at a significantly higher risk of identity fraud. Fraudsters are incredibly skilled at piecing together this compromised data with fabricated details to construct highly plausible synthetic identities, or to facilitate impersonation identity fraud by using real PII with false documents. A single digital ID&V check, which primarily focuses on the visual appearance of a document and a liveness test, is simply ill-equipped to uncover these sophisticated, blended identities that originate from breached data.
The “One-and-Done” Pitfall:
Identity verification is often treated as a one-time event at onboarding. But an individual’s risk profile, or even the integrity of their account, can change dramatically over time. If a solution only focuses on the initial application, it leaves a wide open door for account takeovers or mule activity once the initial check is complete.
Lack of Contextual Intelligence:
Digital ID&V tools are designed to evaluate the document and the selfie in isolation. They don’t inherently connect these data points to a broader network of intelligence – behavioral patterns, device forensics, or historical fraud insights across disparate data sources.

The Imperative:
Catching Those Who Slip the Net

The reality is that a significant number of fraudsters will slip through a purely digital ID&V net. These are the perpetrators behind synthetic identity fraud, sophisticated application fraud, payment fraud, and the initial stages of account takeovers. They often operate in fraud rings, coordinating attacks that individually might appear benign but collectively indicate systemic compromise. The costs associated with these undetected threats are staggering, leading to direct financial losses, reputational damage, increased operational expenses, and an erosion of trust.

This is where a robust, multi-layered fraud prevention strategy becomes not just beneficial, but absolutely critical. It’s about moving beyond simply verifying a document and a face, to understanding the context of the identity, the intent behind the application, and the broader network of activity that might indicate a fraud ring at work.

Building a Fortified Defense

A truly robust solution needs to bridge the gap left by primary digital ID&V checks by providing crucial layers of defense for comprehensive fraud detection and prevention.

Here’s how a comprehensive solution often operates:

Intelligent Data Orchestration:
The first step to catching sophisticated fraud, including fraud rings, is having all the relevant information. A powerful platform seamlessly integrates diverse data sources – beyond just ID&V vendors – including alternative data, traditional credit data, behavioral data, device intelligence, and internal customer history. This holistic view provides the context necessary to spot anomalies and uncover interconnected fraudulent activities.
Advanced Machine Learning Models:
Leveraging this enriched dataset, effective machine learning models are continuously learning and adapting to identify subtle patterns in application data, monitor transaction behavior, and detect suspicious patterns across various fraud types – including the elusive synthetic identity fraud, complex account takeovers, and emergent payment fraud schemes. These ML capabilities are specifically designed to identify anomalies and linkages indicative of fraud rings.
Real-Time Decisioning:
Fraud doesn’t wait, and neither should your detection. A strong platform enables real-time decisioning, allowing businesses to instantly assess risk, approve legitimate applications, or flag suspicious ones for further review, all within milliseconds. This speed is crucial for maintaining a frictionless customer experience while mitigating risk.
Customer Profiling and Analytics:
Beyond the initial check, a comprehensive approach helps build rich customer profiles by consolidating data over time. Analytics tools provide the capabilities to track individual and network behaviors, empowering fraud teams to quickly identify connections and make informed decisions.
Flexible Decision Engines:
The threat landscape is dynamic. A platform’s flexible decision engine should allow businesses to rapidly adjust rules, strategies, and workflows without requiring extensive coding, ensuring they can adapt to new fraud patterns as soon as they emerge.

The Future of Fraud Prevention:
Comprehensive, Not Complacent

Digital ID&V with document capture and selfie verification has its place as an essential first line of defense, offering invaluable speed and convenience. However, in the face of increasingly cunning fraudsters, the proliferation of deepfakes, the continuous threat of data breaches, and the coordinated efforts of fraud rings, relying solely on these methods is akin to leaving the back door open.

The true silver bullet is not a single technology, but a comprehensive, adaptive, and intelligent fraud prevention approach. By integrating diverse data, leveraging advanced machine learning, and enabling real-time, informed decisioning, businesses can build a truly robust defense that catches those who attempt to slip the net, safeguarding their assets and fostering trust in the digital economy.

Reduce friction and prevent fraud losses.

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Empowering Digital Finance Through AI-Powered Risk Decisioning

Written by provenirmulti on May 26, 2025. Posted in Event. No Comments on Empowering Digital Finance Through AI-Powered Risk Decisioning

Join Provenir at The Digital Banker’s premier event in Kuala Lumpur

AI, Cloud & Cybersecurity Congress 2025

Part of South East Asia Tour – Malaysia

17th June 2025
Main Stage
Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We’re proud to be part of The Digital Banker’s South East Asia Tour – Malaysia, a flagship gathering of financial services leaders shaping the future of digital banking and innovation in the region.

Join Provenir as we lead discussions on how AI and real-time decisioning are transforming the customer lifecycle—from identity verification and onboarding to fraud prevention and regulatory compliance.

Whether you’re a traditional bank navigating digital transformation or a fintech scaling smarter decisions, we’re here to help you build trust, drive efficiency, and accelerate innovation.

Don’t Miss Our Panel Discussion

Digital Identity & Authentication – Building Trust in Malaysia’s Digital Banking Ecosystem

Moderator

Kavines Karthigasan

Provenir

Panelists

Manpreet Singh
Senior Managing Director and Group Head, Customer Experience Management
CIMB
Kashif Ibad Khan
Executive Director & Head, Corporate & Investment Banking Technology Service Management & PIC
Standard Chartered
Kalyani Nair
Group Chief Digital Officer
Maybank
Shankar Krishnan
Chief Technology Officer
Boost Bank

Book a Meeting with Our Experts

Want a one-on-one conversation? Reserve a dedicated time with the Provenir team to explore how we can support your digital transformation.

Explore how Provenir’s unified, low-code platform enables:

Real-time credit and risk decisioning
Integrated identity verification
AI-driven fraud and compliance automation
Seamless orchestration across the customer lifecycle