What is dynamic friction for fraud?

Friction for those unfamiliar with it in the identity space essentially means slowing down a person. Not many people like to be slowed down, and that’s the same way people feel about friction. Companies slow people because they don’t want to take unwanted risks. If there are no checks or any friction, you might discover a big financial or reputational bill caused by fraudsters.

Now the trend is to apply dynamic friction, ensuring your users have an optimal experience with your service. Using a road trip theme, we can simplify many of the problems with friction today. The word dynamic in this regard means creating multiple roads for people to drive on. The route is constantly updating for the person; sometimes, a company directs the person to an off-ramp (i.e. blocked) or maybe a more difficult verification type (selfie) requiring a scenic route. People aren’t always predictable, and sometimes they don’t like to follow the road you built for them. That is also why dynamic friction requires having multiple options. If you give a person only one route, then they might unintentionally be creating traffic jams. Companies need to create fast lanes for their good users and cautious paths for risky people. However, overtime fraudsters tend to autopilot your highway and can start bypassing blocks you have setup. This is why dynamic friction is necessary as a changing landscape.

Dynamic Friction = Multiple Routes

The dynamic approach is what large enterprises have been doing for many years, leveraging their expertise in machine learning and resources to scale. The problem is small and midsize businesses don’t have that same efficiency, and the gaps in security become larger. Large companies can onboard more people faster while constantly tweaking and gathering insight on how to identify good/bad people. The other issue is fraudsters go after the easy targets, and if you look like prey, then they know their next target. Having a cost-effective and easy to use friction platform is enough security to keep your sales growing and fraud out, just like roads need to be repaired and monitored, so does your fraud prevention system. Don’t leave your business unchecked and allow Trust Swiftly to optimize your growth.