How Messaging Is More Secure with AI-Powered Fraud Prevention

Micah had been excitedly awaiting the arrival of a new designer watch he bought after getting a promotion at work when he received a text message saying a package was being held at an overseas distribution center until he paid a $97.42 customs fee.

The link in the message looked legitimate, and the website had the shipping company's logo. Micah entered his credit card details and paid the fee without hesitation. The transaction went through smoothly. He put his phone away and thought nothing more of it until his doorbell rang hours later, and a package appeared on his front porch.

How could the watch have arrived from overseas that quickly? That's when a sinking feeling overcame him. Micah, like many others, had fallen prey to a sophisticated phishing scam. He felt vulnerable, gullible, and deeply regretful. Now, rather than celebrating his promotion with the watch, the very sight of it reminded him of his vulnerability.

Stories like Micah's hypothetical situation are all too real. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), American consumers lost a staggering $330 million in 2022 due to text message scams. Claims of package delivery issues ranked behind bank impersonation and the lure of free gifts as the third-most prevalent scheme. Americans received an overwhelming 15 billion spam text messages in just one month in 2023, and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it received approximately 18,900 complaints about scam messages in 2022.

The rise of scams underscores the urgent need to protect mobile network operators (MNOs) and their subscribers from bad actors. Thankfully, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a beacon of hope, a powerful tool that can be harnessed to fight against fraudulent messages.

Messaging scams have dire consequences

As the way we stay connected changes, the way scammers target us shifts, too.

Phishing attacks aren't new — they've been tied to the rise of AOL's instant messaging program in the mid-1990s — but they're getting increasingly sophisticated. Attackers no longer send messages about surprise lottery winnings or inheritances from a long-lost great-uncle. They're becoming much more personal, increasing the chances that the recipient becomes an unwitting victim.

Spear phishing campaigns are targeted attacks in which scammers send tailored messages to specific individuals to trick them into revealing confidential information or downloading malicious software. Business email compromise schemes impersonate work colleagues or bosses and rely on the strength of those connections to deceive employees into falling for what appear to be legitimate requests.

One increasingly popular approach is what's known as a pig-butchering scheme, which begins with a seemingly innocuous message ("Hi, how are you?") and is meant to develop into the recipient building a close relationship with the scammer, who takes on an alternate identity. The United States Attorney's Office has been investigating one such scheme in which a Massachusetts man wired $400,000 to a fraudster.

Whatever the method, these campaigns aren't just damaging to the mobile subscriber. They can also leave the MNO on the hook, too, for not securing its network more strongly. Members of the wireless trade association, CTIA, have been discussing ways they can stay ahead of attackers to show regulators such as the FTC and FCC, as well as their counterparts worldwide, that they're proactively protecting their customers from malicious attacks.

Everyone knows that scammers must be stopped — and that's where AI steps to the plate.

A next-generation model for messaging fraud prevention

It's one thing for MNOs to flag objectionable words in a text message and prevent it from being delivered. It's another for the operator to examine those words and determine the sender's intent.

At Syniverse, our AI-powered anti-spam engine does just that, going far beyond keyword blocking to keep customers safe. It anonymizes personal information and reviews entire conversations as episodes, allowing it to detect even the most subtle social engineering tactics before they can escalate into full-blown scams.

Whether it's a fake shipping notification or a complex pig butchering scheme, our engine can identify, intercept, and block the threat. Its capabilities also extend to scanning text embedded within images, ensuring bad actors can't bypass standard filters with MMS messages that promote unwanted or illicit activities, and ending conversational spam, which arises when organizations misuse application-to-person (A2P) messaging channels by initiating one-to-one interactions.

How we do it

Our secure, global network handles more mobile traffic than anyone on earth, and our dedicated data science team leverages that volume to continually build and feed proprietary AI and machine-learning (ML) models with the latest threat intelligence — including insights gleaned by engaging bad actors to study their techniques. We can offer multilingual support for diverse regions because of our worldwide reach, and this solution can be hosted by any carrier in the cloud, on-premises, or through a hybrid cloud environment.

Regardless of where and how your connections are made, Syniverse is committed to protecting your network and everyone connected by maintaining a secure and trusted messaging ecosystem for enterprises and consumers. Its solutions can help shoppers like Micah avoid scams and be confident that commercial messages come directly from who the senders say they are.

Contact us to schedule a demo to protect your network and your subscribers with our messaging solutions.