Prembly, a Nigeria-based digital security, identity, and compliance company, has launched FraudLens, an open-source fraud intelligence bank designed to help financial institutions, fintechs, banks, and other businesses detect and prevent fraud.
The platform is built on millions of identity checks and also serves as a publicly accessible repository of fraud data, starting with Nigeria, and aims to strengthen anti-fraud infrastructure across the continent.
As digital financial services expand across sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 60% of adults now have a financial account, up from less than 40% a decade ago. While this growth has improved financial inclusion, it has also opened new avenues for fraud, costing the continent an estimated $10 billion annually.
Losses are compounded by AI-powered fraud techniques such as synthetic identity fraud and deepfake social engineering. FraudLens aims to reduce these risks by centralizing intelligence, enabling businesses to detect fraud patterns early, and promoting safer digital financial practices.
“Having supported digital security for large financial institutions both locally and globally, we have seen firsthand that data sharing is a critical first step towards meaningful fraud reduction. We have never seen a resource as accessible and comprehensive as this one. Rather than wait for someone to build it for us, we decided to do it,” said Lanre Ogungbe, CEO of Prembly.
Founded in 2021 by Lanre Ogungbe, Niyi Adegboye, and Tolu Adetuyi, Prembly (formerly IdentityPass) provides AI-powered tools like IdentityPass, IdentityRadar, and background checks to help businesses across Africa and around the world securely verify identity, prevent fraud, and meet regulatory standards.
FraudLens represents the company’s first publicly accessible repository of fraud intelligence, providing actionable data for financial institutions, researchers, policymakers, and consumers.
This is part of a growing effort by African startups, including Smile ID and Dojah, to build identity verification and fraud detection solutions that help financial institutions and digital businesses prevent fraud and strengthen trust in the continent’s financial ecosystem.
FraudLens uses Prembly’s technology to aggregate fraud events reported by hundreds of businesses and partner financial institutions. Each reported incident undergoes behavioral and forensic analysis to identify patterns that inform broader fraud prevention efforts.
The platform provides financial institutions with verified intelligence on known fraud and documented incidents, helping them detect risk early, protect customers, and strengthen accountability.
The platform serves three major stakeholder groups: Financial institutions and fintechs will have access to information about bad actors reported across the financial organization’s network, including personally identifiable information, documented fraud incidents, and supporting evidence.
Researchers and policymakers can use the repository to inform compliance policies and prevention strategies. Consumers can access the platform as a library of fraud awareness insights that help them recognize common fraud patterns and warning signs and encourage safer digital behavior.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the name of Prembly’s co-founder.
