Strong customer authentication is an authentication process meant to validate the identity of the user of a payment service or of the payment transaction. SCA specifically indicates if the transaction or relevant action which is going to be fulfilled is authorized.
Strong customer authentication is meant to replace the previous methods of authentication through confirmation e-mails sent to customers’ e-mail addresses linked with Wirex accounts. Authentication under SCA is fulfilled through SMS confirmation consisting of 4-digit code, which is sent to a mobile number that is verified with the Wirex account, as per the figure below:
SCA is applied to outgoing crypto and fiat transactions as well as card payments, as follows:
Type of transfer | SCA applied |
Internal transfer (Crypto) | Yes |
External transfer (Crypto) | Yes |
ePOS transaction | Yes (3DS) |
SCA is not only applied to the payments and outgoing transactions, we have implemented this enhanced security measure for the list of actions dealing with access authorization such as:
Action | SCA |
Login | Yes |
Reset password | Yes |
Change password | Yes |
Device confirmation | Yes |
Phone number re-verification | Yes |