Callcredit Helps Businesses Tackle The Fraudsters

Callcredit has developed a potent new weapon for businesses to use in the battle against fraudsters and identity thieves.

Designed to pinpoint potential fraudsters before they have a chance to act, CallFraud is a real-time anti-fraud check available 24x7 through the web, either on licence or a cost-effective 'pay as you go basis'.

Suitable for any type of business, from financial services companies to online retailers, CallFraud can be used to check new customers at application stage or existing customers when an event occurs that can be associated with potential fraud. Change of address, for example, can be a fraudsters attempt at account takeover.

CallFraud combines several powerful anti-fraud measures in one all-embracing solution, which delivers wide-ranging and comprehensive protection against fraud.

"There is nothing on the market that works in the same way as CallFraud,"

commented Callcredit's product director Graham Lund.

"Fraud is a growing problem in the UK and consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about it. By using CallFraud, companies can show their customers they are being proactive in tackling the problem and protecting them from fraudsters."

To guard against identity thieves, CallFraud searches against several deceased databases, including Millennium's Halo and the REaD Group's Bereavement Register. According to CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, impersonation of the dead is Britain's fastest growing identity theft crime.

CallFraud also provides a fraud risk assessment based on the consumer's postcode using GeoFraud., a highly predictive index that finds 20% of all frauds within 1% of all postcodes.

CallFraud can be accessed through the web via an easy-to-use browser interface or it can be integrated into clients' existing systems through an Application Processing Interface (API).

Member organisations of CIFAS, who share details of fraudulent applications, can also use CallFraud to carry out a CIFAS check - an option previously only available from Callcredit as part of a more expensive full credit search.

A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

CallFraud could have prevented a recent case of identity theft involving John Goodfellow, Chief Executive of Callcredit's parent company Skipton Building Society.

After fraudsters succeeded in obtaining John Goodfellow's credit card details, they first notified the card company of a change of address and then later requested a replacement card.

Graham Lund explained:

"Whereas John lives in a nice part of North Yorkshire with a very low risk GeoFraud score, he was supposed to have moved to an area of London with a high risk GeoFraud score. CallFraud would have set alarm bells ringing that this change of address was highly unlikely to be genuine.

"It would have given the card company an opportunity to carry out further checks which would almost certainly have prevented the fraud from succeeding."