Interview: Enea on Tackling Fraud & Compliance in Rich Messaging

May 2026

Telecoms & Connectivity

Ardit Ballhysa

Senior Research Analyst

In January, Enea won Platinum for Best AI-powered Messaging Fraud Detection Solution at the Juniper Research Future Digital Awards for Telco Innovation 2026 for its Restricted Image Detection for MMS and RCS solution. To mark this win, we sat down with Iftikhar Waheed, Director of Product Management at Enea, to explore how the company is helping brands tackle growing fraud complexity in A2P messaging.

How is the A2P mobile messaging market evolving, and which key trends are influencing this change?

Perhaps the biggest change is having more rich media and two-way conversations in messaging. Brands are really excited about Rich Communication Services (RCS) for Business because it allows for much more engaging and interactive conversations with consumers. While brands have long used multiple messaging channels and apps, RCS for Business combines the widespread reach of SMS with the rich media features of popular messaging apps. We don’t see RCS for Business as meant to replace SMS; instead, its rich content opens up new ways to interact with customers. That is one of the key reasons behind its growing popularity.

However, as a security company, we also recognise that more engaging communication can open up greater opportunities for fraud and inappropriate content. The complexity of rich messaging allows spammers to exploit the richness for malicious purposes and more easily hide unwanted content. With RCS, we’ll see similar techniques as those used in SMS and MMS today, but in more sophisticated forms. However, it will also open the door to much more innovative exploits that will require the industry to think and cooperate in new, innovative ways.

How does Enea enable CPaaS providers to stay competitive amidst this fast-changing market?

It is not only that messaging in itself becomes more complex, but also that competition and requirements on CPaaS providers to keep their traffic clean increase. To handle this, they need insights and control, which is what we provide across SMS, MMS, RCS, and messaging apps. In short, we support CPaaS providers in three key areas: compliance, security, and business growth. For compliance, we make sure that traffic follows the necessary rules and regulations; helping our customers deliver messages reliably to operators.

When it comes to security, we actively detect and prevent spam, scams, and fraud to protect consumers and maintain trust in brands and operators. On the business front, we provide valuable traffic insights that assist CPaaS providers in making smarter decisions, such as pricing strategies and message routing options.

This mix of compliance, security, and commercial use is really important because CPaaS vendors are not just competing on how far they can reach or how much they cost, but also on whether they can provide trusted and compliant messaging at a large scale.

Enea recently won a Future Digital Award for its Restricted Image Detection solution. What is it, and why does it matter now for CPaaS providers?

Restricted Image Detection tackles a vital and growing challenge for CPaaS providers and the messaging ecosystem. It leverages AI to interpret images in MMS and RCS messages, which makes it possible to detect and block prohibited visual content, ie sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco (SHAFT). This helps avoid compliance issues and operator penalties, and protects clients’ reputation.

We already discussed that the momentum RCS for Business has is driven by its rich media capabilities, and that fraud and spam more easily hide in complex message formats. This means that security becomes even more important. We now need to think beyond just text and links to ensure the media content itself is safe. Restricted Image Detection allows CPaaS customers to send richer media safely, reduce policy violations, and have greater confidence that their campaigns will be trusted and reliable.

How does Enea’s approach to Restricted Image Detection differ from traditional messaging security controls?

Beyond acting on images instead of text or URLs, it can analyse image content directly. Traditional image filtering relies on recognising signatures of already-known images. This means it can interpret images it has never seen before and still decide if they depict SHAFT content. As a result, it makes the security approach much more effective at catching harmful or non-compliant media that traditional controls might overlook.

In a broader perspective, restricted image detection is a good example of how we see AI delivering the greatest benefits in making messaging services safer. It is not by replacing well-established and well-functioning features for filtering SMS, but by enabling and securing new, more complex functionality.

How should CPaaS providers think about trust as they roll out RCS for Business?

We're noticing an increase in fraud and spam across messaging channels, which can shake consumer trust and make these services less user friendly. This challenge also means service providers are under greater pressure to fight fraud, protect their sender reputation, and ensure messages get through across various channels and regions.

Trust is a core element of what makes messaging a preferred channel for brands. It is not just about meeting standards; brands are excited to see their campaigns connect with audiences, operators want clean traffic, and subscribers expect interactions that are secure and respectful. When these pieces come together, trust unlocks growth. Enea is committed to implementing strong content controls, such as restricted image detection, which are essential in making rich messaging both effective and trustworthy for everyone involved.

Enea is a global leader in software for telecommunications and cybersecurity. Our vision is to make the world’s communication safer and more efficient – a driving force that, together with our passion for technological innovation, is at the core of our business.

We develop and deliver reliable solutions that enhance security, performance, and intelligence in digital communication. Enea serves 170+ communication service providers across more than 100 countries, supporting over 30% of the world’s mobile subscriptions. Our technology enables stable and secure connectivity for billions of people around the world every day - a responsibility we take very seriously.

Through continuous innovation and strategic acquisitions, we constantly strengthen our offerings and global presence. We continue to invest in innovation and strategic collaborations to ensure long-term growth and competitiveness.

With a team of around 500 experts spanning more than 30 nationalities, we operate from offices worldwide. Our largest locations are in Sweden, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, and Croatia. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Enea is publicly listed on NASDAQ Stockholm.

For more information on Enea's Restricted Image Detection for MMS and RCS, please visit the website. You can also connect with Iftikhar on LinkedIn.