GSMA, the industry organisation representing the interests of mobile network operators, has forged a new partnership with UK Finance, the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, to provide a collaborative framework for the UK’s mobile network operators and banks to develop a new solution to help combat Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud in the UK.
The new solution, dubbed Scam Signal, will enable banks to better identify and stop fraudulent bank transfers by analysing real-time network data and identifying correlations between phone calls and fraudulent bank transfers.
Scam Signal is launching as a collaboration between mobile network operators EE, Virgin Media, O2, Three, Vodafone and UK Finance members, including NatWest, participating on behalf of the banking industry.
APP fraud, where fraudsters manipulate customers into transferring money to a criminal account, caused losses of over £213million in the first half of 2024 alone, according to UK Finance. Overall, around 35 per cent of the total value of losses from APP fraud originated from scams which started through telecommunication.
To better protect UK banking customers, GSMA and UK Finance began discussions between their members to understand how the high volumes of real-time mobile network data could help UK banking identify suspicious calls and other activities.
Through a series of workshops with mobile network operator and bank representatives, and the modelling and analysis of network data, the entities identified correlations with fraudulent bank transfers, forming the basis of the Scam Signal solution.
Early signs are good
Dianne Doodnath, principal of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “Fraud remains a major problem, with our data showing that criminals stole over £210million through APP fraud in the first half of 2024. APP fraud originating from telephone calls or SMS continues to be of higher value and accounted for 35 per cent of losses.
“To address social engineering tactics used by criminals, cross-industry collaboration has once again proven critical. Working with GSMA has been invaluable in making UK mobile network operators available to support and analyse data with our financial services members. This collaboration has resulted in a strong solution that should have a real impact by identifying criminal activity and increasing fraud detection.”
Vodafone spearheaded early development of Scam Signal, with the mobile operator completing a successful three-month pilot project which resulted in scam detection improving by 30 per cent at a major UK bank.
Brian Gorman, fintech lead at GSMA, also commented: “It is great to see the result of our members’ collaboration directly addressing that problem and providing significant benefit to the UK public – Scam Signal is already detecting fraudulent calls and stopping transactions to criminals. Delivering this solution was made possible by the close collaboration between our members and UK Finance and its members; and we are looking forward to continuing our valuable work together.”
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