Phone number intelligence firm XConnect has joined the Global Signal Exchange, a UK non-profit backed by Oxford Information Labs and co-founded with Google, combining telecom-layer fraud signals with internet-layer data to give enterprises, banks, and public agencies a shared view across scam channels.
The partnership addresses a practical gap in fraud detection: a scam typically spans multiple systems — a spoofed phone number, a fake domain, a fraudulent marketplace listing, a compromised payment journey — but most fraud-prevention tools are scoped to one layer. XConnect's network APIs cover SIM Swap detection, call forwarding checks, number verification, and Mobile Phone Number KYC Match; GSE contributes IP address intelligence, URL signals, and cross-platform risk data gathered from a network of public and private sector contributors.
XConnect is a wholly owned subsidiary of Somos Inc., which administers North American telephone number portability and maintains numbering datasets used by carriers and enterprises globally. That underpinning gives the partnership access to authoritative number-lifecycle data rather than derived signals — a meaningful difference in cases where fraudsters recycle numbers or port them across carriers to obscure their origin.
The Global Signal Exchange was launched in January 2025 with a mandate to function as a clearing house for threat intelligence across sectors. The non-profit structure is designed to address the legal and commercial tensions that have historically made data sharing between competitors difficult; contributions are governed under privacy-preserving, purpose-limited frameworks rather than bilateral agreements.
Eli Katz, CEO of XConnect, described the problem XConnect and GSE are trying to solve: "Scammers exploit the gaps between services. A single scam may involve a spoofed number, a text message, a fake domain, an online account, a marketplace listing and a payment journey. Collaboration is the only way we close those gaps."
Lucien Taylor, co-founder of the Global Signal Exchange, added: "Scammers work together, they share and they move quickly, which means the days are long-gone when individual brands can tackle online crime alone. The Global Signal Exchange marks a new chapter in the collective fight-back against online crime, as we facilitate a new culture of co-operation and data sharing."
Europol has estimated that caller ID spoofing alone accounts for approximately €850 million in annual global losses, with phone and text channels representing around 64% of reported fraud cases. The UK Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter has separately set out cross-sector commitments to expand data sharing and fraud-prevention API use.
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