Fraud prevention

Protect your platform and end-users against authentication-related fraud at every critical touchpoint.

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Top identity theft and SMS fraud scams

Stay informed about leading types of fraud that cost your business and affect customers.

Impersonation fraud

Cybercriminals use fake or stolen identities to create fraudulent accounts for malicious purposes.
Promotion abuse

Fraudsters exploit offers, like discounts or free trials, by creating fake accounts, sharing codes, or using bots to take advantage of user promotions.
SMS pumping fraud

Attackers request one-time passcodes (OTPs), app download links, or anything else via SMS to inflate traffic with the intent to make money.

Account takeover fraud

Bad actors gain control of an account to pose as real users and make unauthorized transactions or steal information.
SIM swap attack

Criminals trick carriers into transferring the phone number to a SIM that is controlled by the fraudster.
Bot attacks

This type of cyber attack uses automated scripts to create fake accounts, disrupt networks, or make fraudulent purchases.

How to prevent user authentication and identity fraud

Create comprehensive fraud protection across the user journey with Twilio

Safeguard your platform from imposters and protect what’s real

Impersonation fraud, also known as new account fraud or sign-up fraud, can be devastating to both your business and customers. Detect and mitigate fraudsters with a multifaceted approach that includes:

Verify multichannel user authentication

Increase conversion when you authenticate customers with their preferred method of verification. Send OTPs across channels like SMS, email, voice calls, and WhatsApp, or implement frictionless verification with Silent Network Authentication (SNA).
Lookup Identity Match

Mitigate fake account creation by comparing user supplied data against authoritative sources using the phone number as the key.
Lookup Line Type Intelligence

Check if a phone number could be a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) number since it may be a disposable phone number that should not be used as an identity factor.

Smiling man holds smartphone with verification code and various security checklists displayed on the screen.

Put phone number intelligence to work at scale and guard your promotions

Promo codes and free trials are powerful tools but they're increasingly being exploited, leading to financial losses and devalued campaigns. Protect your promotions from abuse with these tools:

Lookup Identity Match

Stop bad actors exploiting your platform by establishing phone number ownership.
Lookup Line Type Intelligence

Identify VoIP numbers that are used as disposable phone numbers to mask true identities.

API request to Twilio showing phone number lookup with response including country code, network code, and carrier name.

Fight SMS pumping fraud with tools that analyze traffic and leverage AI/ML algorithms

SMS pumping fraud, or artificially inflated traffic (AIT), poses an increasing financial burden to businesses. Combat fraudsters with these key solutions:

Verify Fraud Guard

Detect unusual traffic patterns and automatically block fraudsters using AI/ML models to prevent SMS OTPs for verification and logins from being sent to non-converting users.
Lookup SMS Pumping Risk Score

Get real-time assessment on a phone number’s involvement in SMS pumping fraud with a proprietary risk model that was built leveraging data across Twilio’s network and Verify Fraud Guard.
SMS Pumping Protection for Programmable Messaging

Block messages flagged as being suspicious from being sent and see data visualizations to get insights into SMS pumping activities.

Four user avatars on a world map above a security analytics chart showing blocked and allowed login attempts.

Prevent account takeovers with strong authentication across the customer lifecycle

Account takeovers not only cost your business financially but also risk its reputation. Ensure customer authenticity, maintain trust, and provide a smooth experience for genuine users with these solutions:

Verify multichannel user authentication

Protect customers with their preferred verification method across SMS, email, voice call, WhatsApp, time-based one-time password (TOTP), push notifications, passkeys, or even authenticate silently with SNA.
Lookup SIM Swap

Check with carriers if a number has been recently transferred to a different SIM so you can take immediate security actions, like different verification methods or account holds, to counter SIM swap attacks.
Lookup call forwarding

Attackers can abuse call forwarding to take over accounts. Verify with carriers if a number has been forwarded to another number and enable alternative verification, such as using the email or device channel to confirm possession.

Interface showing Twilio's verification options including SMS, WhatsApp, Email, Voice, Push, Device, and TOTP.

Detect and mitigate bot attacks with a multilayer defense

Bot attacks wreak havoc on businesses through compromised accounts and lost revenue. Stop cybercriminals in their tracks with these robust user authentication and identity intelligence solutions:

Verify multichannel user authentication

Authenticate customers via their preferred method of verification.
Lookup Identity Match

Protect against malicious bots by establishing phone number ownership and confidently confirming identity in subsequent verifications.
Lookup Line Type Intelligence

Identify and reduce exposure to fraudulent VoIP numbers which are easily disposable and easily procured by fraudsters.

Illustrated cloud with check marks showing type, carrier name, and sim change status for a mobile device.

Verify and Lookup are better together

Harness the power of Twilio to cut costs, increase OTP conversions, and reduce fraud risk.

70% lower

cost-per-user and support costs with Verify’s real-time identity signals*

$55.8 million

saved by Verify Fraud Guard*

4.8 billion

validations per year with Verify **

90% reduction

in user validation time using Lookup Identity Match***

Reddit makes user authentication seamless with Twilio

Using Twilio Verify, Reddit’s users now can swiftly log in or sign up for a new account using SMS one-time passcodes (OTPs).

14%

increase in mobile signups in 2023

82M

daily active unique users

Read Reddit’s story

Lime kicks fraud to the curb with Twilio Verify

With Twilio Verify Fraud Guard, Lime now verifies new user signups to improve the overall security of their platform for their riders and business.

$100K

annualized savings

4 weeks

implementation

Read Lime’s story

How Persona enhances user verification with Twilio Verify and Lookup

Using Twilio’s Verify API, Persona can embed reliable 2FA into their customer flows. Twilio’s Lookup API has helped to prevent SMS pumping fraud.

99%

conversion rate

6 months

without SMS pumping fraud spikes

Read Persona’s story

Resources

Discover tools and insights to level up fraud risk management

Quick deploy

Send an OTP verification

Set up a verification solution to authenticate and approve new accounts while flagging potentially fraudulent signups before they enter your system.

Whitepaper

User verification beyond SMS

Choose the right verification channels for your business and customers. Learn about the pros and cons of SMS verification one-time passcodes.

Webinar

How to prevent fraud

Watch the webinar to learn how to set up user verification solutions to stop common types of fraud.

Ebook

5 Best practices for seamless and secure user onboarding

Learn ways to build an onboarding process that satisfies customers and keeps both their accounts and your platform safe from day one.

ROI Calculator

The Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) of Twilio Verify

Read the study from Forrester Consulting and calculate the ROI your enterprise may realize by deploying Verify.

Ebook

State of Digital Identity Fraud

Take a deep dive into the world of fraud, outlining its impact on businesses and strategies to mitigate its risk.

Not a developer? Not a problem.

Work with Twilio Professional Services to build a new user verification flow. Learn more

The Twilio difference

Increase security without disrupting the user experience and confidently grant access to your platform.

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Guaranteed fraud protection

Easy implementation

Real-time validation

Emerging technology

Getting started

Simple pricing. Only pay for what you use.

You only pay for each successful verification—versus paying per user—which makes it easy to scale up or down on demand. Spend only $0.05 as a base price for each successful verification.

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