Western Union Uses Danal Mobile Identity to Fight Fraud

Western Union is upping its security for global payments by connecting with Danal’s Mobile Identity service that leverages user information from mobile carrier networks.

Danal partners directly with mobile network operators to leverage available account and device information to more accurately identify and authenticate users.

According to Abhinav Gupta, Director of Fraud Product and Strategy at Western Union, “We have been embracing new technology to fight fraud. In the past year, carriers have opened up real-time data on their customers, and we are trying to take advantage of that.”

Security features like two-factor authentication and validations through SMS, PIN numbers, or through a phone call, can be intercepted and forwarded with device malware. These extra steps also add friction to the customer experience.

Phishing is also a popular method for fraudsters to steal user information, and no amount of security can truly eliminate effective social engineering.

The partnership between Western Union and Danal is an effort to better secure customers through an invisible and frictionless real-time authentication method.

With Danal’s Mobile Identity service, Western Union can, for example, query a phone number. The carrier can respond with the information they have in their system to see if the user is actually on the carrier network along with carrier subscriber details that are checked with Western Union.

A persistent ID is assigned to customers, so that even if a customer changes phones or signs on with a different mobile carrier, Western Union can keep track of authorized users seamlessly.

Carriers in short, are being leveraged for the extensive information that they already keep, for a security solution that all stakeholders are keen on.