Carousell Enhances Customer Engagement and Safeguards Against Fraud with Vonage

Based in Singapore, Carousell also has offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. With more than 250 million listings, it is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing marketplaces in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. 

“We strive to create a trusted and secure marketplace where ‘Carousellers’ do not need to worry about purchasing counterfeits or falling prey to scams, while simultaneously protecting brands,” said Ketan Mujumdar, Director of Engineering, Carousell. “Our motto is to inspire everyone to become a buyer or seller and to make more things possible. An open marketplace like ours is bound to experience fraud, so we needed a partner who could help us ensure the security and identity of our users.”

That partner was Vonage. With the Verify API, Carousell was able to quickly and easily implement two-factor authentication (2FA) to validate accounts, while the SMS API allows for quick, efficient communication with sellers and buyers, sending instant alerts whenever there are incoming inquiries and updates on their listings or interested items. Powered by Vonage, Carousell offers users a safe, reliable way to connect, buy, and sell. 

Facilitating Timely Communication While Protecting Users Against Fraud

Carousell is focused on providing users the best experience with a platform built on a solid infrastructure and in compliance with relevant regulations. Previously, the Carousell team had noticed a rise in fraudulent accounts, and these accounts were able to overcome email verifications easily, despite processes in place to block common spam email services. There was also an increase in attempts to sign up for multiple accounts, which made the team hesitant to expand into new markets. Embedding Vonage APIs into the Carousell platform not only helped shield against the threat of rising spam accounts and fake users, but also increased the reliability of the platform, enabling the team to send notifications to users quickly and effectively. 

“Vonage documentation is highly detailed and it was very easy to quickly integrate the Vonage APIs into our platform and ensure that user identities are verified, secure and safe,” noted Mujumdar. “Vonage has helped to reduce fraudulent activity by 67% by Q4 2020, and we have seen a drastic reduction in the number of user tickets since implementing the Verify and SMS APIs.”

The Vonage Verify API allows businesses to easily validate customers across the world at scale. Vonage’s patented 2FA technology helps protect against fraud, build trust, and increase conversion across multiple channels. Using just a phone number, Vonage generates pin codes and employs SMS and voice channels to enable Carousell to authenticate new and existing customers throughout Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. 

Using the Vonage SMS API, Carousell creates deeper user engagement through communication with sellers and buyers that is secure, fast, and efficient.

Looking Toward the Future

By choosing Vonage, Carousell has access to a broad range of reliable, comprehensive and flexible APIs, and a partner that has the ability to develop and provide solutions that meet their needs now - and in the future.  

“We are excited about what the future holds with Vonage, how the Vonage Communications Platform continues to expand and the new opportunities and use cases we will be able to  develop,“ explains Mujumdar. “We want to always continue to grow, and grow with Vonage.” 

Learn more about how Vonage Communications APIs can help you build better connections, communications, and engagement with customers around the world.