Identity Insights API Use Cases for Fraud Prevention

Introduction

Fraud threats are evolving at an unprecedented rate, with AI-driven scams and digital attacks now targeting businesses of all sizes. Staying ahead means adopting more intelligent detection, stronger prevention, and maintaining constant vigilance. In this blog post, we'll discuss four Identity Insights use cases and solutions to mitigate some of the most pressing fraud use cases.

Identity Insights Use Cases

The Identity Insights API includes fraud-prevention capabilities and provides real-time access to several attributes related to the carrier, subscriber, or device associated with a phone number. 

Mitigate Fraud and Strengthen Identity Verification

Fraudsters exploit weaknesses in identity verification through account takeovers (ATO), impersonation, and synthetic identity attempts. ATO occurs when attackers hijack accounts using stolen credentials, SIM swaps, or phishing. Impersonation fraud, on the other hand, occurs when a fraudster uses real personal data belonging to someone else to pose as that person and gain access or open new accounts, whereas synthetic identity fraud involves creating entirely new identities by combining real and fake information.

With the Identity Insights API, businesses can detect real-time fraud signals, such as SIM swaps, suspicious carriers, or invalid numbers, and adapt authentication flows as needed. Subscriber Match enables companies to check end-user details against mobile operator KYC data. The process is simple. An API request includes a phone number and at least one additional attribute. The mobile operator compares this information with its records, and the response indicates how closely each attribute aligns with its records. The system returns results for each field separately and uses match-scoring algorithms to indicate the strength of the match.

By analyzing phone number intelligence, such as number format, line type, carrier, and recent SIM swap activity and subscriber match, companies can implement additional security measures only when necessary. This minimizes friction for legitimate users while blocking fraudulent sign-ups, preventing unauthorized access, and safeguarding customer identities.

Validate Customer Phone Numbers for Reliable Communication

Phone numbers are central to both identity verification and customer communication, but not all numbers are equally valuable. The Identity Insights API enables businesses to instantly confirm whether a phone number is valid, active, and suitable for their use case.

By checking attributes such as line type (mobile, landline, VoIP, premium), country, and carrier, organizations can ensure they are interacting with genuine users. This reduces compliance risks, lowers costs, and prevents failed communications.

This capability is especially useful during customer sign-up, where validating phone numbers improves data quality, ensures only serviceable numbers are accepted, and prevents abuse from invalid or disposable accounts.

Optimize Customer Engagement With Smart Contact Strategies

Reaching the right customer at the right time through the most effective channel is crucial to engagement. A message delivered at the wrong time or via an unsuitable channel risks being ignored, or worse, causing user frustration or opt-outs.

Identity Insights provides real-time intelligence to help companies refine their outreach. With visibility into attributes such as number type, country, and time zone, businesses can choose the most effective contact channel (SMS, voice, or alternative), personalize messaging based on regional preferences, and schedule communications in alignment with the recipient’s time zone. As a result, there are higher engagement rates, better deliverability, and stronger customer relationships.

Enrich Customer Data for Smarter Decisions

A phone number is more than just a contact point; it’s a source of insight. With the Identity Insights API, companies can enrich their customer profiles with real-time telecom data, including carrier, line type, connectivity status, and SIM swap activity. 

This data supports better risk modeling by flagging suspicious phone number patterns, more intelligent segmentation by refining targeting with telecom attributes, and stronger fraud prevention through deeper contextual signals.

Identity Insights API In Action

Identity Insights is a powerful tool that provides detailed information associated with a phone number. 

cURL Request Example 

When querying the Identity Insights API, you can request multiple insights in a single call to gather data about a phone number and its associated identity. For instance, the below cURL example fetches both the SIM Swap and Subscriber Match insights at the same time:

curl -X POST https://api-eu.vonage.com/v0.1/identity-insights \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JWT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "phone_number": "4412345678",
    "purpose": "FraudPreventionAndDetection",
    "insights": {
        "sim_swap": {
         "period": 180
        },
        "subscriber_match": {
            "id_document": "X1234567Z",
            "given_name": "Jane",
            "family_name": "Doe",
            "street_name": "Evergreen Terrace",
            "street_number": "742",
            "postal_code": "NW1 4AB",
            "country": "GB",
            "house_number_extension": "",
            "birthdate": "1985-11-10"
        }
    }
}'

The API response will include insight results for both requests in the insights object:

{
  "request_id": "bbbbbbbb-cccc-dddd-eeee-9876543210fe",
  "insights": {
    "sim_swap": {
      "latest_sim_swap_at": "2025-03-15T14:22:10.123Z",
      "is_swapped": false,
      "status": {
        "code": "OK",
        "message": "Success"
      }
    },
    "subscriber_match": {
      "id_document_match": "HIGH",
      "given_name_match": "EXACT",
      "family_name_match": "EXACT",
      "street_name_match": "EXACT",
      "street_number_match": "EXACT",
      "postal_code_match": "EXACT",
      "country_match": "EXACT",
      "birthdate_match": "EXACT",
      "status": {
        "code": "OK",
        "message": "Success"
      }
    }
  }
}

Identity Insights on the Vonage Dashboard 

Try out our Identity Insights on the Vonage Developer Dashboard. Simply enter a phone number, select the relevant data points, and receive the requested insights. You can use the API without writing any code, removing any hassle around authentication or connectivity.

It provides two test modes:

• Demo: Pick from a set of predefined phone numbers to experiment with the API using simulated examples.

• Live: Choose your application and test phone numbers to try out real interactions based on supported features.

Getting StartedIf you'd like to experience the Identity Insights API, please refer to the API Reference, which contains the Open API specification.

Conclusion

As fraudsters use new tools and tactics, businesses must move just as quickly. Prioritizing AI-powered monitoring, stronger authentication, and fraud awareness is now non-negotiable for every industry. By investing in the right technology and staying informed on emerging risks, you can protect your revenue, customers, and reputation.