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As technology evolves, so do the methods that cybercriminals utilize to commit identity theft and fraud. Last year alone, the Federal Trade Commission processed 1.4M fraud reports amounting to $1.48B in losses. Given that federal law states that financial institutions are held responsible for returning consumers’ money if their account was hacked, it is extremely critical to ensure financial institutions are utilizing an authorized source to provide data in order to assess risk properly while validating the identity of potential customers.

In the U.S. market, the LNP program is administered through a national database called the NPAC (National Portability Administration Center) which contains the routing information for over 800 million ported and pooled numbers.

Robocalls make up nearly half of all phone calls so frustrated consumers simply don’t answer incoming calls and businesses can’t get through to customers when they need to reach them. At the same time, phone numbers have become the defacto personal identifier for consumers and—if verified— can provide valuable information for companies looking to mitigate risk. As communications security professionals gather at this year’s Communications Fraud Control Association’s (CFCA) annual convention, iconectiv will highlight the role of trusted communications and how the industry is working together to maintain the integrity of the phone number to protect businesses and businesses.

At the end of the day, it’s not about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about surrounding yourself with smart talented people who can use their unique skills to drive projects forward and get the best possible result. Everyone has a voice and should communicate their ideas openly. A leader must be able to listen, respond, stay on track and move in a direction that will allow the whole team to be successful. The bottom line: Successful projects require great leadership and the skillsets to execute. Success in almost everything requires ruthless planning, focused execution and a relentless — “never give up” drive to the finish line. “Good luck” is often the result of good planning.

With the introduction of PortData Validate from iconectiv, financial institutions, healthcare providers and other authorized businesses can leverage telephone number porting data as part of their assessment when verifying a customer´s identity, approving a transaction or disclosing information, the company said. The data, exclusively available from iconectiv or an authorized reseller of iconectiv´s PortData Validate service, is the nation´s only authorized service for businesses who need access to accurate and up-to-date phone number porting information for fraud mitigation and risk assessment.

iconectiv, a subsidiary of Ericsson's Telcordia Technologies, launched PortData Validate, a platform that allows financial institutions, healthcare providers and other authorized businesses to leverage telephone number porting data as part of their assessment when verifying a customer’s identity, approving a transaction or disclosing information. The data, exclusively available from iconectiv or an authorized reseller of iconectiv’s PortData Validate service, is the nation’s only authorized service for businesses who need access to accurate and up-to-date phone number porting information for fraud mitigation and risk assessment, iconectiv says in a press release.

Mobile phone numbers now rival social security and driver license numbers as the personal identifier that consumers use to register for products and services. That ubiquity makes mobile numbers an attractive and powerful tool for identity thieves, who stole $14.7 billion in 2018 from 14.4 million U.S. consumers.

When it comes to investigations, timeliness matters. The Enhanced Law Enforcement Platform (ELEP) allows you to securely look up telephone numbers and view porting history dating back to 2004 to identify the service provider of record for phone numbers. Sourced from the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC), the data can be accessed via a web-based interface or application programming interface (API). ELEP supports telephone number searches by range and specific number.

Those in law enforcement know that ensuring data accuracy and working quickly to solve investigations in a timely manner is critical. It can be frustrating when delays in seemingly simple tasks, like accessing phone records, hold up the process due to missing or inaccurate information.

Law enforcement agencies are under pressure to solve investigations quickly, with limited resources. Seemingly simple tasks—like accessing phone records—requires agents and officers to know the service provider of the phone number being investigated before they can subpoena the records, sacrificing valuable time in the process.