FICO and JT's Customer Communications Service Scam Signal takes Silver Medal in the Fraud Impact Award for Best Scam and APP Fraud Prevention; solution uses telephony signals to spot scams

BOZEMAN, Mont. & SAINT HELIER, Jersey--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the fight against the growing problem of scams, global analytics software leader FICO and Jersey Telecom (JT) have produced a powerful solution, which has won an award from Datos Insights, a global advisory firm providing mission-critical insights on technology, regulations, strategy, and operations to the financial services industry. Datos Insights recognized FICO and JT as the winners of the Silver Medal in the Fraud Impact Award for Best Scam and APP (Authorized Push Payment) Fraud Prevention solution.

The FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal is now also available in the UK and Spain, with plans to expand to additional markets. It has also been shortlisted for the Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year in the 2024 UK Payments Awards.

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FICO and JT worked with leading UK banks to identify the most relevant telephony signals that indicate an active scam. The FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal is the first real-time application of telephony data being used with customer and payment data to tackle the issue of Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud, where consumers are tricked into making authorized payments to scammers. It enables direct, near real-time intervention with the customer to determine if a payment should proceed.

"This Scam Signal product addresses a significant and growing problem," said Clare Messenger, Head of Mobile Intelligence Solutions at JT. "Authorized Push Payment fraud continues to grow globally and in the UK market losses reported in 2023 reached £460 million."

To build this solution, JT worked with the GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) and the UK Mobile Network Operators to access various mobile network insights within a privacy compliant framework that protects personal data. FICO's analysis found strong correlations between a customer's mobile phone behavior and the likelihood that a scam is taking place. For example, a customer may be actively coached through security or manipulated by a fraudster into making a payment during a mobile phone conversation.

The Scam Signal uses advanced analysis of real-time network data together with customer and payment data, during live transactions, to effectively detect and mitigate social engineering attempts aimed at deceiving and defrauding account holders. The Scam Signal can incorporate this data from across 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling for multiple mobile network operators and is currently being extended to support UK landlines.

"The integration of Scam Signal within FICO Customer Communications Service allows banks to present customers with personalised, omni-channel and highly contextualized messages that break the scammer's spell for high-risk activities," said Adam Davies, vice president of product management at FICO. "These messages can be built into conversation 'flows' that respond in real-time to the actions the customer takes. For example, if a customer hesitates or looks to progress a payment, additional messages can be sent, and different options offered, such as suggesting delaying the payment or offering to speak to a fraud prevention specialist."

Major high street banks in the UK are implementing the product, with the first one to pilot it reporting that they reduced the number of people scammed by 41%, decreased fraud losses from scams by 44% and lowered false positives (payments flagged as fraud that are in fact genuine) by 55%.

FICO Chief Analytics Officer Dr. Scott Zoldi will discuss "Responsible AI: Unleashing the Power of AI for Risk Mitigation in an Ethical Manner" in a fireside chat with Julie Conroy of Datos Insights at the company's Financial Crime and Cybersecurity Forum in Charlotte, NC, on August 27.

About the Datos Insights Awards

Datos Insights' annual awards program, Fraud & AML Impact Awards, recognizes innovations leading the industry and pioneering new and disruptive financial crime products and capabilities.

The Datos Insights award winners and finalists were selected based on the following criteria, which were considered when scoring each entry:

• Level of innovation
• Competitive advantage
• Market need
• Financial crime risk mitigation
• Impact on customer experience and operational efficiency
• Integration and scalability
• Future roadmap

"Organized crime is relentlessly bombarding society with scams, automated bots, synthetic identities, mule activity, and application fraud," said Chuck Subrt, fraud & AML practice director at Datos Insights. "The financial services industry is doubling down on innovation, automation, and data to tackle this confluence of challenges and risks."

About Jersey Telecom

Jersey Telecom (JT) has evolved from a government-owned telecom entity into a successful global tech company, offering innovative connectivity, mobile intelligence, and business solutions. With over 135 years of history and headquartered in the British Channel Islands, JT employs over 500 people worldwide. In 2018, JT became the first telco to provide fibre-to-the-home for all broadband users. In 2023, JT began upgrading this network using Ericsson's energy-efficient technologies to launch 5G, in that same year JT acquired Spectrum Message Services, expanding their Mobile Intelligence services, which now provides secure transaction alerts to over 135 million customers globally.

Learn more at JT International | JT International (jtglobal.com)

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

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