The tool lets users check whether someone calling them is truly from Klarna and is now available in the 26 markets where Klarna operates, the release said. If a customer takes a call from someone claiming to be from Klarna, they can open the Klarna app and check the banner at the top of the screen. If the banner is green, the call is verified. An amber banner means Klarna cannot verify the caller, and the user should end the call.
“Scammers are a global problem, so our protections need to be too,” Klarna Head of Financial Crime Woody Malouf said in the release. “Every Klarna customer now gets the same simple check. No need to hunt for a number, just open the app, look at the color, and you know whether it’s safe to keep talking.”
Sweden-based Klarna first introduced Call Status Detection in the Nordic region in September, and it has helped thousands of users verify calls, according to the release. It follows Klarna Inbox, another scam-prevention tool that lets customers verify written communications like emails and texts.
Scam calls from fraudsters impersonating banks and payment companies are prevalent. Fraudsters stole roughly $579 billion through scams and bank fraud last year, the release said, citing data from Nasdaq Verafin.
Artificial intelligence has compounded the problem, allowing scammers to fake the very tools issuers use to confirm identities, PYMNTS reported in September.
Paymentology Chief Technology Officer Tim Joslyn told PYMNTS that voice authentication has already failed, leaving banks that rely on it vulnerable. Selfies, videos and behavioral biometrics face similar weaknesses as automated systems figure out to mimic human timing.
“Instead of re-checking identity at every login, issuers are testing a model where trust builds session by session, and only unusual behavior triggers a harder look,” the report said. “Tokenization plays a similar role, swapping a static card number for a credential that specifies what a customer or an AI agent can use it for.”
Research from PYMNTS Intelligence found that 68% of high-customer-lifetime-value (CLTV) issuers already view stronger security as critical for AI agents making purchases.
