SABRIC recorded R2.7 billion in confirmed financial crime losses in South Africa during 2024. Although lower than 2023, it remains a recurring cost of trust decisions being made independently and imperfectly by organisations that do not share verification work with one another.
Where identity controls fall short
Account takeover is a clear example. Credentials correct, second factor correct, device recognised, behavioural signals within tolerance — every identity control can return "verified," and the transaction can still be fraudulent. Identity answers who is acting. It does not, on its own, establish whether that person is authorised, whether the claim is still valid, or whether the transaction is appropriate. Fraud finds the gap between those two things.
Duplication creates opportunity
Every organisation that repeats the same verification, independently, is also independently exposed to the same fraud patterns. Shared, reusable trust closes some of that gap by letting the organisation best placed to know something — a bank confirming an account, a mobile network confirming control of a number — establish it once rather than have it checked imperfectly many times over.