Bolt Prevents Fraud on its Mobility Super-App Using IPQS

Bolt is a leading ridesharing and mobility super-app, which operates in 45+ countries across four continents. The company is experiencing rapid growth and has expanded its services from car ridesharing to include food delivery, bike and scooter transport, grocery delivery, car rental, and business services. It has been working with IPQS since 2017 to protect its 150+ million customers and 3+ million drivers. 

Challenge: Payment Fraud and Abuse on Rapidly Expanding Global Platform

Bolt engaged IPQS to help combat payment fraud using stolen credit cards. Bolt accepts a very high volume of transactions, accounting for 1% of all transaction volume in Europe. Due to the scale at which it operates, even a small percentage of fraudulent activities can accumulate into substantial losses. Accurate fraud prevention is critical to avoid financial losses and uphold customer trust.

Furthermore, Bolt is continually expanding into new countries where it does not have a baseline of user risk. Bolt needs to deploy accurate fraud models in new markets to proactively identify risky traffic.

Bolt also encounters spikes in other types of abuse such as account takeover and SMS pumping, where fraudsters flood SMS verification with fake traffic, leading to fraudulent charges. These attacks are often targeted outside of business hours. 

Solution: Advanced IP Intelligence and Risk Profiling

Bolt selected industry-leading IP intelligence and proxy detection from IPQS to augment its internal models and detect fraud more accurately. IPQS provides real-time visibility into high-risk IP addresses and detects malicious bot activity. The company also uses IPQS to verify geo-location and to detect fake users using invalid email addresses at sign-up.

Bolt saw immediate value from IPQS due to the quality of the insights. Thanks to IPQS's multi-layered assessments and granular risk insights, Bolt can dynamically profile the risk associated with any user with exceptional accuracy. IPQS integrates seamlessly into Bolt’s proprietary systems and requires minimal oversight from the in-house team.

IPQS Solution Overview

Traffic Risk Scoring

IPQS helps Bolt identify high-risk and fraudulent traffic in real-time and rapidly adapts to emerging fraud signals by leveraging advanced IP reputation scoring.

Proxy, TOR, and VPN Detection

Identification of traffic from open proxies, anonymous proxies, TOR nodes, VPN providers, hosting providers, data centers, spammers, malware & spyware, or botnets.

Residential Proxy Detection 

IPQS profiles every IP address on the planet daily for visibility into residential proxies, which are the hardest to detect as they hijack legitimate, clean connections.

Fresh Risk Intelligence

IPQS uses a combination of proprietary honeypots and traps, shared industry blocklists, forensic analysis, client feedback loops, and machine learning, harnessing recent data collected within the past few hours or days.

Bot and Botnet Detection

Real-time tracking of bot traffic engaging with IPQS honeypots and traps includes advanced detection of patterns and behaviors indicative of scripted attacks.

Email Validation

IPQS filters out low-quality and abusive users during the account sign-up stage by flagging fake and disposable email addresses, commonly used by fraudsters to cover their tracks.

Geo-Location Services 

Geo-location data is crucial in situations where GPS data is unreliable, enabling Bolt to accurately verify user locations and identify inconsistencies that may indicate fraud.

API Integration 

Seamless integration of IPQS data into the Bolt fraud detection system empowers them to react swiftly to threats without burdening the team with manual tasks.

Results: Clear ROI and Reduced Fraud

Bolt has seen a clear return on investment from their partnership with IPQS. The collaboration continues to grow significantly since its inception over six years ago. With the help of IPQS, Bolt gains a competitive edge in outmaneuvering fraudsters and safeguarding the integrity of its user platform on a global scale.

The seamless integration of IPQS IP intelligence into Bolt's in-house fraud systems helps prevent a significant amount of fraudulent activity. This enables Bolt to make well-informed decisions regarding potential risks while ensuring legitimate customers are not mistakenly blocked. Moreover, the responsive around-the-clock support from IPQS assists Bolt's expanding global operations across different time zones. 

• Accurate Fraud Detection
  IPQS data enables Bolt to accurately identify malicious traffic in order to proactively prevent fraud before it incurs damage. 

• Clear Return on Investment
  Bolt has prevented financial losses from fraud that easily surpass the investment made in IPQS solutions, demonstrating substantial ROI.

• Granular Risk Insights

Transparent data sharing reveals the details behind a risk score. This empowers Bolt to make fully informed decisions, striking a balance between fraud prevention and UX.

• Exceptional Support
  A highly collaborative approach to customer support means that Bolt has direct access to critical IPQS team members and around-the-clock support.

• Comprehensive Global Coverage
  Bolt has expanded to 45+ countries and 500+ cities with quality risk insights and no delay in spinning up models for new countries.

• Flexibility Across Use Cases
  IPQS intelligence is a foundational part of Bolt’s risk profiling. It is used to detect malicious users across different use cases and attack types.

“IPQS support is very responsive and the team is highly cooperative. I really enjoy that I have a direct line of communication with the people who address our issues,” Jaanus Uudmäe, Head of Fraud, Bolt