As consumer payment preferences continue to change, and the
payments industry evolves to meet these preferences, fraud prevention solutions
will need to be flexible and scalable to ensure that consumers and companies
can transact securely. 

Kount, a company at the forefront of digital fraud prevention, recently released such a solution: the Identity Trust Global Network. To talk more about the importance of identity trust and Kount’s unique solution, PaymentsJournal spoke with Gary Sevounts, Chief Marketing Officer at Kount, and Tim Sloane, VP of Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group.

PaymentsJournalIdentity Trust: The Future of Preventing Digital Fraud and Improving the Customer ExperiencePaymentsJournal Identity Trust: The Future of Preventing Digital Fraud and Improving the Customer ExperiencePaymentsJournaljQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap38609177 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"off" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",settings_backup_type:"full",playfrom:"default",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"off",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "ef6b13",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_comments_playerid:"38609177",php_retriever:"https://www.paymentsjournal.com/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_85764_2",settings_ap38609177); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } });

What is identity
trust?

Kount defines identity trust as “the ability to establish
the level of trust for each identity behind every payment, account creation,
and login event.” Each of these interactions has identifiers behind it, and
each identity has a determinable trust level. A strong digital identity trust
platform, such as Kount’s, accurately identifies and verifies the level of
trust behind individual interactions, which is critical to effectively prevent
fraud.

Identity trust levels can range from very low to very high.
If an identity trust level is very low, it’s almost guaranteed to be fraud and knowing
this allows businesses to react accordingly. On the flipside, an identity level
determined to be very high allows businesses to feel confident that the
interaction or transaction is legitimate. 

For identity trust levels that fall somewhere between low
and high, businesses have the option of stepping up authentication and
monitoring customers for progressively trustworthy behavior. If a trustworthy
pattern is established and the trust level rises, that extra layer of
authentication can be removed.

What is an identity
trust network?

An identity trust network is a platform enabled with
technological capabilities that can establish identity trust. Identity trust
platforms go above and beyond the older method of evaluating identity trust
level with a handful of device identity elements and an email address. Kount’s
AI-powered Identity Trust Global Network, for example, looks at the “physical
location of the interaction, correlation between the card transaction location,
card location, shipping location, and history of the address,” explained
Sevounts.

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