Equifax and Mitek Systems Partner to Combat Identity Fraud

Credit reporting agency Equifax and global identity verification firm Mitek Systems formed a partnership.

Their alliance aims to combat evolving digital fraud threats and enhance Equifax’s ability to prevent identity fraud, the companies said in a Thursday (Sept. 21) press release.

“Our objective is to help businesses protect their customers and themselves from risks associated with digital interactions,” Adam Gunther, senior vice president and general manager of the digital solutions team at Equifax, said in the release. “Providing a safe and secure online environment is critical. We are working closely with partners like Mitek to provide a suite of identity verification and authentication solutions to help address the significant fraud challenges companies face today.”

In the United States, over 1.1 million cases of identity theft were reported in 2022, and consumers lost $8.8 billion due to fraud, according to the release. Credit card fraud remains the top form of identity fraud, with over 400,000 reports in the past year alone.

To address these rising threats, Equifax will integrate Mitek’s biometric-based identity verification and liveness detection technology into its digital identity software, the release said. The integration will enable Equifax to offer more robust identity verification solutions to detect complex identity risks throughout the customer lifecycle.

“Bad actors will always find new ways to take advantage of people,” Gavin Sollinger, vice president of strategic global alliances at Mitek, said in the release. “It is our job to stay ahead of them through the latest advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and biometrics.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that payment fraud is growing increasingly sophisticated as fraudsters leverage advanced techniques such as AI to fool banks’ and businesses’ automated verification systems.

AI-based fraud prevention systems have proven to be some of the most effective at stopping identity fraud, as they can pinpoint minute inconsistencies in stolen or manufactured identities that would pass unnoticed by human analysts, according to “Fraud Takes on a New Identity,” a PYMNTS and DataVisor collaboration.

The best way to fight fraudsters’ AI is with AI, Brad Wiskirchen, senior vice president and general manager at Kount, an Equifax Company, told PYMNTS in an interview posted in June.

“It’s almost like the 1980s with the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” Wiskirchen said.