Key takeaways (TL; DR):
Email remains the #1 fraud vector in 2025.
Hyper-disposable domains are growing and undermining traditional controls.
OTP verification cuts multi-accounting and ATO risk from onboarding.
Didit lets you add email verification in minutes via Workflows or API.
Email is the most widely used identifier on the internet—and the most attacked. In 2024, the FBI recorded $16.6B in cybercrime losses (+33% YoY), with email at the center of many reported incidents (source). Add to that hyper-disposable domains, which are created and burned in days and already represent a substantial share of sign-up attempts: roughly 46% of high-risk disposable domains are hyper-disposable (AtData). Bottom line: if your business runs on onboarding and trust, modern email verification—fast, measurable, and consistent—becomes indispensable to protect growth and core metrics.
If you lead compliance or run a fintech/marketplace, this guide helps you harden sign-ups and credential changes without wrecking conversion: what to watch, when to verify, and how to deliver a clean UX.
Email shows up at every critical moment of the customer journey: sign-up, account recovery, credential changes, security notices, and transactional flows. When the address is verified early (during onboarding) and periodically (especially as risk profiles change), the attack surface drops dramatically. Plus, verified emails improve your email marketing strategy by boosting deliverability, reducing bounces, and improving traceability.
Recent reports highlight three email-driven fraud vectors:
Email verification strengthens KYC controls by proving the person attempting verification actually controls the declared mailbox, reducing sign-ups with borrowed, stolen, or incomplete data. It also powers risk-based authentication: if context looks abnormal, ask for an extra step; and it improves auditability via clearer evidence trails. Evidence shows these controls materially reduce account compromise.
Before diving in, one key nuance: email OTP proves mailbox ownership at that moment, but doesn’t by itself tell you whether an address is disposable or hyper-disposable. That’s why it works best combined with validation and reputation signals (format, MX/SMTP, domain age/category, breach exposure). With that context, OTP verification delivers speed and ownership certainty; validation improves channel hygiene and helps decide when to ask for OTP.
When we talk about email security controls, two complementary goals matter:
This multilayer approach lets organizations confirm email ownership in seconds via OTP while also improving deliverability through a healthy mailbox.
A disposable (or temporary) email is a short-lived mailbox (minutes, hours, or a few days), designed to register without exposing a real address. Some services generate addresses instantly and even display messages publicly. The result? They can receive verification emails and disappear afterwards.
The 2025 trend is hyper-disposable email, with domains that spin up and burn down at high speed. Data suggests ~46% of high-risk disposable domains are already hyper-disposable, multiplying churn and breaking any defense that relies solely on lists.
Yes—but with limits. Email OTP verifies ownership of the mailbox at that instant and, by itself, won’t tell you if the address is disposable or legitimate. Still, OTP is pivotal in the customer journey and helps mitigation when combined with risk signals (validation, reputation, disposable detection) and adaptive routes.
You don’t need to re-verify every user all the time: do it when context changes and/or risk rises. The idea is to trigger an extra step only at critical moments—e.g., withdrawals or password changes—using factors like email verification or biometrics. That way you harden sensitive points without punishing everyone.
Didit’s email verification confirms ownership of an address using a one-time passcode (OTP) sent to the user’s inbox. It can be used inside identity verification flows or as a standalone control, and integrates via no-code Workflows or API.
Results are delivered via webhooks and a dashboard with decision states and reasons, streamlining audits.
Learn more in the Didit email verification technical docs.
You can verify emails at different stages of the customer journey:
In 2025, email isn’t just a communication channel—it’s a critical control point. Smart OTP verification helps stop fraud before it happens and strengthens digital trust. With Didit, adding email verification takes minutes: Workflows or API, results and reasons via webhooks and dashboard, and audit-ready traceability.