Head of Secure-D Dimitris Maniatis gives keynote speech
London, September 27th, 2018 – Upstream, who is leading the mobile internet revolution in high growth markets, providing 1.2 billion people with affordable and secure access to digital services, attended the Global Carrier Billing Summit in London, 25-26 September, 2018.
At the Summit, the team shared findings of Upstream’s recent research into the adverse effects of malware on direct carrier billing, and how this malware is designed to commit digital ad fraud, resulting in the collection of users’ personal information, the depletion of their mobile data allowance and the triggering of fraudulent charges to their pre-paid credit, without their knowledge or consent.
Dimitris Maniatis, Head of Upstream’s carrier-grade anti-fraud platform, Secure-D, gave a keynote speech around these findings, which have already been covered by the Wall Street Journal and 150+ other media titles.
The key findings of the research include that 82% of mobile transactions are fraudulent, with 81% of these transactions being down to malware and 19% coming from misled users. The research has found that 19 million malware infected smartphones are attempting to make these fraudulent payments, and that Upstream’s Secure-D platform has already blocked $31 million worth of fraudulent charges.
Dimitris Maniatis spoke about how, since he joined Upstream in 2017, he has worked to develop the Secure-D anti-fraud platform. His keynote covered why carrier billing could be at risk not only in emerging markets but also in developed markets, and how operators can prevent fraudulent charges to ensure consumer trust in carrier billing remains high and it remains a viable online payment channel.
Since its launch, Secure-D has been deployed in 12 markets with 18 operators and processes 16 million transaction requests per day. Its machine learning capabilities and proprietary algorithms allow operators to verify transaction authenticity in real-time.
Dimitris Maniatis, Head of Secure-D at Upstreamcommented: “Online ad fraud threatens carrier billing in the digital era, both in emerging and developed markets. The kind of ad-fraud we have found directly leads to the depletion of the end users’ data and their airtime balance. It is imperative for the future of ecommerce in emerging markets that operators work to eliminate fraud related to online transactions, protecting revenue streams for themselves and the viability of the most widespread form of digital payment in the world today. At Upstream, we are committed to working to protect consumers from fraud and to ensure operator revenue streams remain healthy.”
