Exclusive Interview: iovation Manager, Angie White, Explains the Company’s Role in iGaming Fraud Prevention and Authentication

Fraud prevention and player authentication is serious business when it comes to online
gambling and one particular TransUnion company specializes in this area. Falling under the
umbrella of a consumer credit reporting agency, we wondered how any of its companies could
be involved in the iGaming sector. Luckily, we had the opportunity to get a closer look during
this exclusive interview with iovation manager, Angie White. Whether you’re an industry professional or a player, the following information is quite interesting and educational.

Q: As a TransUnion company, explain iovation’s role in the iGaming industry.
A:
providers prevent fraud and authenticate consumers. With the acquisition by TransUnion, we
are now able to offer an array of new solutions to operators with identity verification,
compliance, and have expanded our capabilities in consumer authentication and fraud
prevention. Operators can now go to one source to satisfy multiple requirements such as age
verification, address validation, player self-exclusion, anti-money laundering (AML) and managing play by geographic boundaries.

Q: With legalized online gambling imminent in July 15, 2019), are you
expecting an increase in credit card involving related transactions? Has this been the
case in other legalized states?
A: Credit card fraud continues to be one of the most reported types of fraud from our gambling
customers, but that definitely needs to be expanded out to include alternative payment methods.
Any time you’re dealing with deposits, it’s a target. One of the most effective methods to combat
payment fraud is to employ device intelligence because it gives you access to the historical
behavior of a device. Wouldn’t you want to know if a device has been associated with credit
card fraud, for instance? Other risk indicators such as high velocities can also be used to detect
possible payment fraud. If you see, for instance, a single device set up a hundred new s
in the past week, that’s not a normal consumer behavior and should likely be flagged for
investigation. By implementing device intelligence checks at high risk transaction points such as
deposit and cash out, operators can more effectively combat payment fraud.

Q: With regard to credit card transactions, do online gambling deposits pose more of a
threat than retail environments?
A: I wouldn’t say gambling deposits necessarily pose more of a threat than retail environments
but there are certainly unique cases where credit card poses a risk for both industries. Credit
card fraud or payment fraud hits operators on a number of fronts. Not only are you out the lost
revenue, but there’s also the cost of fraud, and if it isn’t caught early fraudsters can use the
illegitimate funds to pocket real winnings. Add on top of that the cost of chargebacks. So it’s
definitely important to control. Another big risk for gambling operators at the deposit is money
laundering. Many criminal organizations and even terrorists target online gambling to launder
money because they assume that there will be fewer controls in place than say with a financial
institution. An emerging trend that we heard from operators when researching our 2019
Gambling Industry Report was VIP brokering. Under these scenario fraudsters set up a
new , cultivate it to get to VIP status and then sell it to money launderers because VIP
s are generally subject to less scrutiny than new s. This really highlights the
importance of having controls in place not just at setup or deposit but protecting at
other risk points such as management.

Q: According to your research, iovation found a higher risk of illegal activity in the United
States in of online gambling activity – a whopping 119% higher in evasion
techniques as compared internationally. Please tell us more about that.
A: This is a really important point for operators to understand as they launch in the U.S. market
because it highlights two important points. First the good news, we feel this clearly signals pent
up demand in the U.S. market with legitimate customers willing to go to lengths to by
system controls simply so they can place bets online. The second point for operators to pay
attention to is, they are dealing with a very fragmented market and sophisticated consumers that know how to mask their location to attempt to bet illegally. It’s going to be imperative that operators adopt systems to limit play by geographic boundaries so that they don’t run afoul with regulators. Depending on the level of accuracy needed, there are a number of methods that can be used to achieve this from geofencing to using device intelligence which can detect both geolocation and the use of detection evasion techniques.

Q: What’s being done to combat proxy s?
A: There is nothing inherently wrong with using a proxy. You can have legitimate players who
are within the jurisdiction who use a proxy for privacy reasons. This is why it’s important to look at
multiple factors to determine whether a transaction is potentially fraudulent or out of the jurisdiction,
for example with a real vs. stated IP address, whether the device has been associated with past
fraud, or what country the SIM card the device is using is associated with.

Q: Do threats vary based on desktop and mobile s?
A: No, we see many of the same types of threats on both desktop and mobile. There’s actually a
common misconception that applications are more secure and less likely to be targeted by
fraudsters. We typically see very comparable fraud rates between desktop, mobile web and
applications.

Q: Despite the dark side of fraudulent activity, how can players protect themselves?
A: The best way for players to protect themselves is by voting with their feet. Playing with
operators that have a good reputation and are investing in protection. What controls do
they have at ? Are they using multiple factors to authenticate s or just name and
? Are there controls in place at other risk points such as withdrawal and
management? These types of challenges can sometimes be frustrating, but without them, players are left unprotected.

About Angie White
Angie White is the product marketing manager of iovation, a TransUnion Company, specializing in the Gambling industry. iovation has over 15 years of experience in helping Gambling operators and platform providers to prevent online fraud and authenticate players. To learn more about key trends in online gambling check out iovation’s recent 2019 Gambling Industry Report.