First Orion last Thursday announced that the industry’s first real-time out-of-band call authentication solution, INFORM Paired, is now available across all major US carriers. INFORM Paired ensures bad actors cannot impersonate a branded call from a legitimate enterprise and, as a result, reduces the risk of consumers getting scammed.
Consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, according to newly released data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Of that, scammers contacting people on the phone cost consumers an average of $1,480 per person, the highest of any communication channel. A recent First Orion survey found that nearly 90% of respondents expect enterprises to protect consumers by ensuring scammers do not spoof phone numbers associated with their business.
Using First Orion’s pre-call API, the INFORM Paired solution guarantees that calls from an originating number to destination numbers can only be branded during a specific, finite window of time. INFORM Paired operates off the most authoritative data available on a call-by-call basis, and if a call originates outside of this window, the call branding is stripped from the call before it is delivered to the recipient’s device. Fortune 500 companies have implemented First Orion’s solution to combat illegal spoofing attempts, which is important for enterprises that work with sensitive information in the financial services, insurance, and healthcare industries.
With nationwide service, enterprises can add additional features to their outbound calls such as delivering calls with a logo and reason for the call over mobile networks and call blocking for unauthenticated calls. This out-of-band solution not only complements the STIR/SHAKEN framework but serves as a bridge into the framework by elevating calls that are authenticated with the pre-call API to A-level attestation and instills greater trust to the recipient.
First Orion further enhances call security with its SENTRY solution. Launched in 2023, the SENTRY’s advanced spoof protection prevents fraudulent calls from reaching the mobile user’s device. SENTRY is a finalist for the Best of Enterprise Connect 2024 award for Best Innovation for Customer Experience.
Scott Hambuchen, CIO of First Orion
The availability for enterprises to adopt INFORM Paired across all major networks is a major step toward thwarting scammers from using legitimate business identities to target consumers over the phone. Enterprises can ensure that only authenticated calls are being delivered with their branding, providing even more transparency and legitimacy to their customers. Trust and transparency are paramount when dealing with sensitive information, which is what makes this solution so important. Paired is the most secure branded calling solution in our space.
