Fraud remains a huge issue, with reports increasing 25% between 2023 and 2024, according to recently released data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That amounted to consumers losing more than $12.5 billion to various frauds and scams.
Those eye-popping figures are what spurred AT&T to beef up its fraud-prevention smartphone application, ActiveArmor, with a slate of new features, says Matt Bailey, AT&Ts AVP of product management and development.
And interestingly enough, the app will also provide protection for your physical propertyincluding your credit and debit cards and even your drivers license.
On Wednesday, AT&T announced the five new features being added to the app:
Lost wallet recovery
ID restoration
A password manager
A password manager web extension
Social media identity protection
With the lost wallet recovery feature, AT&T says it will help you replace important items such as a driver’s license or checkbook with a one-click call to its recovery specialists. The service also cancels lost credit or debit cards and “restores other sensitive financial items,” according to the company’s description.
Combined, Bailey says the new features will help fewer people become victims of various scams.
The biggest impetus to our focus on security is the fact that consumers are consistently being victimized by fraudulent activity, and that its increasing, he says. Thats the key concern that our customers have been telling us about, and weve been focused on security relentlessly.
Robocalls and other modern-day rackets
Bailey says that while the ActiveArmor app was originally launched in 2016 to root out robocalls, its since become what he thinks is the most comprehensive security app out there.
And its also available to everyonenot just AT&T customers. AT&T customers will not be charged anything extra, but those on other networks who download and install the app will face a $3.99-per-month charge.
And as for why AT&Twhich is primarily a digital and wireless companydecided to add protection for physical cards, drivers licenses, and even checkbooks? Bailey says that the company already has a dedicated team to help customers replace some of those items, so it made sense to put the physical stuff into the mix, too.
We thought it was a pretty natural tie-in to help customers remain protected, he says.
