Bizarre browsing habits, sneaking IP moves, shifty typing

In seconds, a major fraud attempt was thwarted by Bengaluru-based identity verification platform Bureau. “You need to think like a hacker but be on the right side,” says Growth head Nikhil Jois.

Bureau is one of many companies in India’s rapidly growing ecosystem of identity verification and fraud detection startups. Other prominent names include IDfy, Signzy, Perfios, Hyperverge and newer players like Digitap, Surepass, BeFiSc and Ongrid which are developing advanced tools and algorithms to help banks, fintech companies, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), e-commerce platforms, gaming apps, matrimonial apps, etc., identify and prevent fraud before it infiltrates their systems disguised as “genuine customers”.

No complex passwords or conspicuous alarms here—just a hidden layer of security that doesn’t activate just on cue like traditional KYC or know your customer processes but instead analyses thousands of data points to detect abnormalities.

These data points, far from isolated, are funnelled into highly sophisticated algorithms built by these startups. They include public data like Aadhaar numbers, PAN cards, criminal records and consent-based alternative data such as location (IP address), browsing history, device analytics, social media footprint, purchase history, behaviour with the app or digital transactions, creating a detailed pattern or anomaly.