As account opening continues to transition from physical to digital channels, financial institutions, issuers, lenders, and other organizations must optimize the digital experience of applicants in order to compete. At the same time, fraud is on the rise as criminals have become more successful than ever, thanks to some of the same digital channel benefits enjoyed by consumers: convenience, speed, and ease of use. To achieve the necessary balance between preventing fraud and providing a delightful experience for consumers, an approach to identity proofing that accounts for the channel, product, customer, and threat environment is absolutely critical. But regardless of the approach, inconspicuous solutions — like those based on applicant behavior — have a distinct role to play in how institutions manage the risk of application fraud.

Consumers rely on their mobile devices on an ever‐growing basis to keep them connected. Smartphones and tablets provide them with access to each other through email, messaging, and social media while also putting financial services and shopping in the palm of their hands. And each and every one of these activities holds value for criminals in search of account credentials and personally identifiable information (PII) to sell or misuse. Unfortunately, for all of the potential that mobile devices represent, the apathy of every mobile stakeholder is undermining the security of mobile devices and the accounts of their users. Protecting Android, iOS, and Windows mobile device users from fraud will require a concerted effort by all stakeholders to eliminate vulnerabilities, encourage security‐minded behaviors, and to leverage all the security benefits that mobile devices have to offer.