South African businesses are onboarding more customers digitally than ever—while fraudsters get sharper, faster and bolder. If your KYC and EDD processes rely only on generic identity checks, you’re probably missing critical risk signals. ThisIsMe’s new service solves that by giving you programmatic access to fraud-intelligence from the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) so you can spot red flags early, keep trusted customers flowing, and document a robust risk-based approach for audits. 

Why this matters now

The latest SAFPS Annual Report shows fraud pressure is rising sharply: total active fraud listings grew 26% year-on-year, and SAFPS members saved over R5 billion in prevented losses—evidence that high-signal data changes outcomes when it’s embedded into onboarding and monitoring. 

At the same time, South Africa’s risk-based compliance framework has been strengthened. The Financial Intelligence Centre’s Guidance Note 7A (Feb 2025) clarifies expectations: accountable institutions must assess AML/CTF risk, apply proportionate CDD, and escalate to Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) where risks are higher—while keeping complete records in the RMCP. In short: you’re expected to use better data to make better decisions.

What is SAFPS Data — and why it’s unique

SAFPS is a non-profit, industry-wide collaboration that maintains a centralised fraud-prevention database used by many of South Africa’s most trusted brands across banking, insurance, retail, telecoms and more. Its mission is to protect organisations and consumers against identity theft, impersonation and related fraud.

The ecosystem also includes Protective Registration (a consumer service that flags compromised identities so members apply extra controls) and Yima, a scams-prevention toolbox and reporting hub that feeds intelligence back to the network. Together, these assets help organisations detect impersonation attempts and serial fraud earlier—data points that are hard to replicate elsewhere. 

ThisIsMe’s New SAFPS Services: Fraud Risk Prevention Data Where You Need It 

We’re introducing a KYC/EDD screening service that integrates SAFPS intelligence directly into your workflows. It’s designed to be simple to adopt and powerful from day one.

What you can check

• Fraud listing status: see whether a profile has been listed for confirmed or suspected fraud indicators.
• Impersonation victim status: detect if the ID/consumer is flagged as a known victim, prompting additional verification rather than outright decline.
• Protective Registration flags: apply step-up controls when a consumer has proactively protected their identity. (Yima)

How it fits your stack

ThisIsMe’s service ecosystem and SAFPS-powered services are accessible via our web-based user platform and API automation solution, ensuring you can find the perfect fit for your business needs. 

• Web-Based User Platform: Access SAFPS data anytime, anywhere via ThisIsMe’s web-based user platform, perfect for low-volume workflows and for manual reviews and investigations.
• API Automation: Integrate SAFPS data into your automated customer onboarding workflows via seamless API, empowering real-time screening in onboarding, payments, lending and claims flows. 

What you get back

Clear match outcomes and risk signals you can map into your RMCP (e.g., escalate to EDD, request additional proof, or route to fraud ops). 

Audit-ready evidence to demonstrate how risk data influenced decisions—aligned to guidance note 7A’s recordkeeping and risk-based expectations.

Why It Matters: Business Value, Beyond Just Compliance

1) Cut fraud losses without throttling growth

Fraud-intel screening reduces false positives by distinguishing bad actors from genuine victims of impersonation, so you can keep approving good customers with confidence. The R5 billion in prevented losses reported across SAFPS members underscores the bottom-line impact of using this dataset at scale. 

2) Strengthen your RMCP—and your audit trail

GN 7A expects a documented, risk-based approach. SAFPS signals are defensible inputs into your risk assessment and EDD triggers (e.g., prior fraud listings, impersonation patterns), and your screening results can be retained as part of CDD/EDD records.

3) Faster, fairer decisions

When Protective Registration is present, you don’t need to decline by default—you can step up verification and still onboard the rightful customer. That helps reduce churn and reputational risk while protecting vulnerable consumers.

Where to use it first

• Account opening & onboarding: run SAFPS checks alongside ID verification to block first-party fraud and impersonation at the gate.
• Credit, BNPL & lending: use results as a pre-underwriting signal; escalate to EDD if fraud history or impersonation risk is detected.
• Insurance: apply to claims triage and high-risk policy changes.
• E-commerce & fintech: trigger step-ups on risky orders, wallet top-ups, or device/account changes.

These touchpoints are where industry data has the highest signal-to-noise ratio—and the biggest ROI.

How we designed it for compliance teams

• Risk-based controls: map SAFPS outcomes to your risk scoring and EDD playbooks (e.g., additional identity corroboration, source-of-funds checks, enhanced monitoring).
• Recordkeeping by design: responses are structured so you can store evidentiary artifacts for FIC inspections and internal audit. 
• Complementary screening: SAFPS is additive to CDD controls like identity verification, sanctions/UN TFS list screening, PEP & beneficial-ownership checks required under the FIC framework. 

What Makes SAFPS Data Different

• Industry-contributed intelligence: listings and victim flags reflect front-line fraud incidents reported by member organisations—data that’s difficult to infer from credit or identity sources alone.
• Breadth across sectors: participation spans banks, insurers, retailers, telecoms, public-sector bodies and more—broadening the footprint of fraud detection. (Members listed in the 2024 report include major banks and public sector stakeholders such as the FIC and SARB.). 
• Consumer protection loop: Protective Registration and Yima feed intelligence back into the network, improving signals over time.

A quick look at the risk landscape

• Fraud is rising: SAFPS reports a 26% increase in active fraud listings year-on-year. Identity-based crime and scams continue to dominate incident patterns. 
• Regional concentration: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape remain the main centres for fraudulent activity—useful context when calibrating risk by geography. 
• Operational load: SAFPS handled 72 000+ calls and 50 000+ emails in 2024, and logged 10 964 Protective Registration applications—scale that reflects both demand and dataset depth. 

Getting started

Pick your first control point. Onboarding, payments, lending or claims—start where fraud hurts most.

Define your rules. Decide how SAFPS outcomes map to approvals, step-ups, EDD, and declines in your RMCP. 

Integrate fast. Use our API or Partners Platform, we’ll help with testing, rule-tuning and go-live.

Measure impact. Track saved losses, approval rates, review time and audit exceptions.

The Bottom Line

KYC that only checks identity is table stakes. KYC that sees fraud risk in context—with industry-grade intelligence from SAFPS—lets you approve more good customers, stop more bad ones, and show regulators exactly how your risk-based program works in practice. If you’re ready to add rare, high-signal data to your stack, book a demo and see ThisIsMe’s SAFPS-powered screening in action.