Helping prevent fraud with two-way SMS

Nets is a leading payment processor, providing innovative digital payment service solutions across Europe. In-person, online, or via mobile, Nets handles millions of card transactions daily and manages security and fraud mitigation for more than 700,000 merchant outlets and +250 banks. Nets’ security and anti-fraud offerings help verify transaction details, ensure funds are available in the cardholder’s account and perform anti-fraud measures before authorization – all in less than a second.

Challenge: Maximizing delivery speed

Fraud prevention requires validation from cardholders when there is a suspicious transaction, a process that used to go through the banks. Nets needed a faster solution to improve the customer experience while maintaining the highest level of security.

When it comes to mitigating fraud, speed is of the essence. Quick communication could be the difference between preventing or succumbing to fraud. Nets needed to find a solution that enabled high-speed delivery to reach customers in the moment of need, allowing them to check suspect transactions in real-time to stop fraudulent activity dead in its tracks.

Before, if there was suspicious activity on a card and it had been blocked, a customer might suddenly be unable to pay and would have to wait for the bank to review the case before lifting the block – often a lengthy and time-consuming process.

With the new solution of instant verification through 2-way SMS communication, card transactions are validated immediately, avoiding unnecessary hassle for the customer in the fraud mitigation process.

For Nets, reaching out to Sinch for collaboration on this project was an obvious move, having worked together successfully for several years on Nets 3DSecure (OTP solution)/Sinch Verification.

Solution: Engaging with a seamless UX

Delivery speed was critical for obvious reasons – every second counts in fraud mitigation – but UX was important, too. For customers to engage and act quickly to alerts concerning suspicious activity, the need for an intuitive, instantly recognizable, and conversational approach was paramount.

It’s fair to say that one of the keys to end-user engagement is a friction-free process. If something is difficult, time-consuming, or confusing, people are unlikely to engage. If it’s not clear from the outset who a message is from and what action is required, end-users might not even realize their security is under threat at all. This lack of response can be not only time-consuming and costly for customer service agents having to chase up with phone calls or further messages, but for end-users, if they don’t respond quickly it can cost them a lot more, literally.

Sinch’s response to the speed, UX, and security : two-way SMS for improved flow, instant brand recognition, and reduced friction for end-users. Hitting customers right in the palm of their hand, to their ever-present mobile phone, two-way SMS garners instant attention and allows a speedy reply to any message concerning suspected .

Results: Helping put a stopper in fraud

Protecting end-users from fraudulent activity while maintaining an improved UX with minimal friction was the main objective of this project. Thanks to two-way SMS from Sinch, Nets now handles the validation process directly with the cardholder, ensuring speed and better user experience for the cardholder. Furthermore, this has freed up time for the banks who avoid disturbing their customers in cases that turn out to be false alarms.