This archive report was first published on 22 May 2020.
On May 22, 2020, Voyance, a data science company based in Lagos, launched a fraud monitoring platform called Sigma to help African fintechs block fraudsters.
Sigma aggregates data from fintechs within Africa, starting with Nigeria, to block fraudsters. The platform is a fraud graph database that blocks known fraudsters from illegally accessing their platforms.
According to Abdul Hassan, Co-founder and VP of products at Voyance, Sigma is a platform that collects and shares profiles of bad actors.
“At Voyance, we believe deeply in data. With vast experience in working with data science, we decided to build a data-driven fraud infrastructure product for the good of the ecosystem,” said Hassan.
Since there's no platform for firms in Africa to monitor and block known fraudsters collectively, a common platform was needed to reduce the incredible amount of chargebacks and monetary losses for fintech companies. Hassan adds that 80% of fraudulent transactions are performed by the same fraudster from one company to another.
Sigma brings together fintechs who then list a known fraudster to them alone. The fintech joins the alliance and backfills the graph database with a fraudulent user identifier, such as a BVN, phone number, or IP address.
When the known fraudster tries to commit a similar act on another fintech within the alliance, they are easily identified and automatically blocked. Other fintechs also join in and widen the net by adding new identifiers related to the flagged fraudster.
The total value of e-commerce in Africa reached $16.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $29 billion by 2022, dominated by Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, according to a report by Statistica.
