French operators team up for anti-fraud API push

The operators are launching two network APIs into the French market, namely KYC Match and SIM Swap. Both are developed to the new CAMARA standard which aims to align specifications across mobile operators.

KYC Match is designed to allow businesses to cross-check customer-provided information with verified records maintained by the user’s mobile network operator, as part of their KYC (Know Your Customer) process. This info might include a mobile phone number, name, postal code, address, birthdate, and email address.

Meanwhile SIM Swap is supposed to check whether a given phone number has recently changed SIM cards in order to help mitigate ‘account takeover attacks’, or when fraudsters take control of the account owner’s SIM card using social engineering techniques and stolen personal data.

The APIs were developed alongside financial institution such as BforBank and Fortuneo, and the operators are aiming for a commercial launch in the first half of 2025. The operators intend to serve up a third API called Number Verification, which deals in authentication.

“Orange France is proud to join the GSMA Open Gateway initiative with the other French mobile operators, Orange was one of the earliest supporters of the project at GSMA and Linux Foundation,” said Laetitia Orsini, EVP Consumer Business, Orange France. “We believe that joining forces to develop APIs to a common standard, Camara, will revolutionize the way that developers use networks capabilities and services by making them quicker and easier to access. Our Identity APIs have already been deployed by numerous banks and financial service providers in France to help fight fraud. We are convinced that Open Gateway and Camara will allow us to scale our existing business and build new use-cases around Network based APIs.”

Rui Frazao, Chief Technology Officer, Free - Group iliad added: "As a member of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, Group iliad is committed to help developers and cloud providers enhance and deploy services rapidly across a common standard set of APIs available worldwide. This unified ecosystem will help unlock the full potential of 5G networks, which is in line with Group iliad’s strategy to democratize access to the latest technologies as soon as they are available. The combination of advanced 5G and APIs, opens the mobile networks for new use cases across many industries: fintech, mobility, gaming, entertainment, and others."

We’re told in the release France has seen a 37% increase in online transactions since the Covid pandemic, totalling €2.35 billion in 2023, with 77% of these taking place over mobile devices. Meanwhile 80% of French companies say they experienced online fraud attempts and the number of digital identity theft cases has risen by 40% over the past four years, the release states citing figures from the French Ministry of Interior.

It's a picture mirrored in many reports on the subject, and operators globally are coming out with various API initiatives to combat such nefarious activities. Last week the GSMA and UK Finance teamed up to offer a ‘collaborative framework’ for UK operators and banks to roll out an API called Scam Signal, which is designed to help banks better identify and stop fraudulent bank transfers by analysing real-time network data and identifying correlations between phone calls and fraudulent bank transfers.