Tag Archives: fraud prevention

Banks, Business, Financial, Financial Management, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Security

Experian’s Global Fraud Prevention Services Strengthened By One Billion Iovation Device Checks

Experian has announced an international partnership with iovation, the Device Reputation Authority, to further enhance Experian’s global fraud prevention capabilities. Iovation’s advanced device recognition software, dynamic referencing and device reputation checks will increase the reach and effectiveness of Experian’s identity verification and fraud prevention services.

iovation brings together the world’s largest repository of mobile and online devices. It identifies one billion mobile devices globally and currently conducts nine billion device reputation checks a year. It enables clients to assess the likelihood of transactions being fraudulent based on the device from which an application is made. Its sophisticated real-time risk assessment analytics stops some 150,000 potential online fraud attempts each day.

Results from searches against iovation’s device library can now be used to in conjunction with Experian’s fraud and identity capabilities including its ID verification tool, Prove-ID,card fraud prevention engine, Risk-ID, and account opening fraud prevention service Hunter.

Nick Mothershaw, Director of Identity & Fraud, Experian said: “Fraud continues to represent a clear and present danger to the bottom lines of banks, insurers, financial services, lenders and ecommerce merchants. With the rise of mobile commerce, the question of device reputation is becoming increasingly important. Our agreement with iovation will provide Experian’s clients with a new layer of defence against fraudsters and deliver a more comprehensive risk assessment and scoring of each transaction to identify and welcome legitimate customers.”

“Collaborating with Experian means we can help our joint clients avoid fraud losses by stopping cybercriminals before they damage their business or customers. Combining iovation’s power of device reputation with Experian’s extensive identity-based services is game-changing,” said Jon Karl‚ co-founder and Vice President of Corporate Development at iovation.

“iovation is committed to identifying suspicious activity, exposing the size and scope of problems, and helping our customers know whom to trust online.”

Working in tandem with Experian’s range of identity verification and fraud prevention tools, iovation’s ReputationManager 360 analyses the past and current behaviour of more than one billion devices to identify and re-recognize devices logging into an organisation’s website in real time. This unique approach spots relationships between different accounts with multiple vendors and identifies all of the devices associated with an individual without needing personally identifiable data. Doing so helps businesses prevent fraudulent transactions before they happen and identifies potential fraud rings or recurring fraud activities, while protecting the privacy of consumers.

Via EPR Network
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Business, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Mobile banking, Money, Online Banking, Security

Experian helps Hammersmith & Fulham save £3,000 a day in the fight against social housing tenancy fraud

Experian has assisted The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in recovering almost £3,000-a-day for the public purse with an ongoing and highly successful programme to prevent social housing tenancy fraud in its 12,000 social homes.

The local authority is working with Experian to deploy the latest fraud detection techniques in a programme that has significantly reduced the level of social housing tenancy fraud in Hammersmith & Fulham. Experian’s analysis, combined with the in-depth local knowledge and expertise of its fraud investigators, has yielded savings of more than £650,000 in the first seven months, with more savings expected to follow.

Councillor Andrew Johnson, Hammersmith & Fulham Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “These stunning results prove our zero tolerance towards fraud is working. Every fraudster profiting from the most vulnerable members of society by unlawfully sub-letting social homes should know they now run a very high risk of being caught.

“Every home that is sub-let is a property taken away from a person or family in need.

“Experian is working with Hammersmith & Fulham to enable the investigation team to review and follow up suspected fraud cases. Within the first seven months, around 300 high-risk properties were investigated resulting in savings of £654,000 to the public purse – the equivalent of nearly £3,000–a-day. In many cases keys were very quickly surrendered following an e-mail, phone call or visit from the local authority.

“Our data-matching work with Experian, underpinned by our cost-effective internal analysisis expected to save £1 million in the first 12 months of the exercise.”

At present, current fraud estimates are based on collective samples of individual housing providers and suggest Social Housing Fraud is a significant problem in the UK with evidence of fraud in at least 6 per cent of social homes. But the true figure is almost certainly higher as this estimate does not include fraudsters that have obtained multiple tenancies in more than one local authority or housing association. A true estimate of the scale of the problem will require combined data sharing and matching between all social housing providers. Indeed, the problem of social housing fraud cannot be effectively addressed or solved without effective coordination between providers.

Experian is already working with over 30 social housing providers to help prevent social housing tenancy fraud. Our most recent fraud analysis in January 2012 covers a quarter of a million tenancy records representing a broad spread of urban and rural social housing providers. Work to date has detected potential fraud in over 6 per cent of tenancies nationally, one in sixteen social homes. However, in some areas the level of detected fraud is significantly higher, particularly in premium locations such as London, where some local authorities there are suffering rates as high as nine or ten per cent.

Via EPR Network
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Checking & Savings, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money, Security

Experian Reports Slough Overtakes London As Identity Fraud Capital Of UK

Experian has revealed that Slough has overtaken London to become the identity fraud capital of the UK.

The Berkshire town recorded 25 identity fraud attempts for every 10,000 households, with residents targeted at around four times the UK national average – seven households in every 10,000. Residents of London, Gravesend, Birmingham, Luton, Manchester and Leicester, were also targeted at twice the national average rate.

London as a whole experienced 22 attempts for every 10,000 households, although attempts were not spread evenly across the capital. Financial service providers detected 78 incidents for every 10,000 households in East Ham, as residents were targeted at more than 11 times the national rate. Woolwich and Stratford also experienced significant identity fraud activity, recording 46 and 43 identity fraud attempts respectively for every 10,000 households.

While the instances of fraud across all financial products remained at a constant level between 2010 and 2011, with six in every 10,000 applications were found to be fraudulent. The data shows that there was a surge in identity theft via current accounts and mortgages during this period, with rates doubling, from six to 14 in every 10,000 applications, and quadrupling, from one to four in every 10,000, respectively. Identity fraud attempts on credit cards fell from 17 to four in every 10,000 applications.

For the first time, young people renting small flats from local councils or housing associations represent the demographic most likely to be targeted by identity fraudsters. This group, known in Experian’s Mosaic classification as Upper Floor Living, saw its identity fraud risk score increase by 47 per cent to 256 in 2011. Its constituents are two and a half times more likely than the average UK resident to be targeted.

Previously, the wealthy Alpha Territory demographic – representing the wealthiest sections of society living in fashionable London neighbourhoods – were most likely to be targeted. The risk score for this group helved in 2011, from 301 in 2010 to 149, as fraudsters turned their attentions to younger and less affluent sections of society.

Nick Mothershaw, UK director of identity and fraud services at Experian, commented: “The increasing prominence of lower income demographics at the top of Experian’s identity fraud risk table, alongside declining risk scores for the wealthiest groups, represents a notable shift in fraudsters’ tactics.

“Identity fraudsters have traditionally focused the bulk of their attentions on the wealthiest sections of society living in prestigious London postcodes. Our research shows that the risk continues to spread, with the highest rates of identity fraud now to be found in the Thames Valley and London’s Olympic neighbourhoods.

“Financial services firms and other providers of credit recognise the financial and reputational risks associated with identity fraud, and have put in place increasingly sophisticated identity verification and anti-fraud measures to combat the threat. Individuals also have a role to play fighting the fraudsters and it is important that they take steps to protect their personal information.”

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Checking & Savings, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money, Security

Experian Enhances Hunter Fraud Prevention System

Experian, the global information services company, has announced the launch of a new version of Hunter, its industry-leading data-sharing fraud prevention system, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of anti-fraud operations.

The upgrade – available from the end of February 2012 – enhances Hunter’s anti-fraud investigation and collaboration capabilities with more than 30 new and enhanced features. These include integration with Google Maps, automated completion of fraud submissions to CIFAS and greater sharing of fraud intelligence and investigatory capabilities across multiple business units within an organisation.

The integration of Google Maps into Hunter allows fraud investigators to see how the addresses on a number of connected applications relate to each other geographically, through the use of its Street View, Satellite and Standard map views. This will, for example, enable investigators to spot geographic connections that are not obvious from the data, such as potential fraud collaboration between residents of neighbouring properties located on different streets, and ensure that commercial properties are not passed off as domestic residences.

Experian’s new CIFAS Autofile functionality will enable Hunter users to automatically populate fraud submissions to CIFAS with the required information. This minimises the time spent keying duplicated data and can reduce filing time by 80 per cent, dramatically improving efficiency and reducing the margin for human error.

Large organisations running Hunter across disparate business units will also be able to benefit from new collaboration capabilities and take advantage of opportunities to centralise fraud investigation operations internally. Investigators are now able to pull together a greater level of fraud intelligence from other parts of the same organisation and investigate cases across all business units, increasing productivity across the group and providing richer data through sharing of information between departments and offices.

Nick Mothershaw, UK director of Identity & Fraud at Experian, commented: “Fraud continues to represent a clear and present danger to the bottom lines of banks, insurance companies and other financial services and credit granting organisations. The enhancements Experian has made to Hunter will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of fraud prevention capabilities with additional tools for investigation and even greater collaboration. We have enabled users to better understand the location of potentially fraudulent applications with a single click within the Hunter environment and to share fraud intelligence far more easily.”

Experian’s Hunter fraud prevention system has been used across the UK’s banking, financial services and insurance sectors for more than 20 years to detect, investigate and record fraud at the point of application.

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Checking & Savings, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money, Security

Experian To Create And Manage New Reference Database For The Payments Council

Experian, the global information services company, has been appointed by the Payments Council to create and maintain an industry database of corporate customers’ payment information. The central biller database, which will improve the accuracy of payments made using online and telephone banking, is scheduled to go live in late 2012.

Experian will collect, verify and standardise information from banks on how their corporate customers (billers) receive payments. The full database is to be used by banks to make it easier for online and telephone banking customers to find accurate information when paying their bills – for example, via simplified drop-down menus. The service will also benefit billers, who will find it easier to reconcile incoming electronic payments by providing more accurate billing information for customers to use.

The central biller database is an initiative from the Payments Council’s recently published National Payments Plan (2011-2014), forming part of the Payment Council’s programme of activity to enhance existing payment services through innovation.

Jonathan Williams, Director of Strategy at Experian Identity and Fraud comments: “Experian estimates up to a quarter of customer references are invalid or incorrectly formatted, increasing the time it takes to credit payments and sometimes preventing them from being credited altogether, particularly when bill issuers change their account details, switch banks, or are involved in a merger or takeover.

“This database will help ensure banks hold correct and up-to-date information for billers and it will give both corporate and consumer customers’ confidence their payment will reach the right recipient and will be processed quickly.”

Hilary Plattern, Head of Strategy for the Payments Council, said: “This innovative solution is a win-win: consumer customers making payments benefit from increased confidence in the accuracy of the information they use to pay bills online or over the phone, while companies can be confident their customers are using up-to-date bank account and sort code details, as well as correctly-formatted references.

“This new database is an excellent example of the Payment Council’s commitment to put customers’ needs at the centre of the way payment methods are designed. We look forward to working with Experian to develop and deliver this service.”

About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 countries. The company helps businesses in the areas of fraud prevention and fraud solutions (including banking fraud), as well as helping to manage credit risk, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

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Banks, Checking & Savings, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money, Security

Experian Data Shows Identity Fraud Attempts Double In First Half Of 2011

Experian, the global information services company, has released its latest Fraud Index which reveals that identity fraud attempts doubled in the first half of 2011, compared to Q4 in 2010. This pushed up the overall level of application fraud attempted against UK financial services firms for the third successive quarter. Experian also predicts a nine per cent increase in application fraud attempts during 2011*.

The analysis, published at Experian’s annual Identity & Fraud Forum, reveals that identity fraudsters were responsible for eight in every 10,000 applications made in Q2 2011 (April – June 2011), double the number of fraudulent applications recorded in the final quarter of 2010. This was driven by a 340% increase in current account identity fraud, from five to 22 in every 10,000 applications.

Experian’s analysis also highlights that 18 in every 10,000 applications for automotive finance, credit cards, insurance, loans, mortgages, current accounts and savings products made in the second quarter of 2011 were found to be fraudulent. These were five per cent higher than January to March 2011, and up nine per cent on the year.

Over the same period the number of first-party fraud attempts – where a genuine individual misrepresents their circumstances – remained constant at 10 in every 10,000 applications.

42 in every 10,000 applications for current accounts were detected as fraudulent between April and June 2011, up 20 per cent on the first three months of 2011 and 59 per cent higher than during Q2 2010. For the second quarter in a row, current accounts were the most targeted financial product by fraudsters.

Experian’s Fraud Index collects data from both the National Hunter and Insurance Hunterfraud prevention systems, which are managed by Experian on behalf of its clients. Both systems provide a way for financial organisations to protect against fraud by comparing applications with previously submitted ones and pinpointing inconsistencies.

Nick Mothershaw, Director of Identity & Fraud at Experian UK & Ireland, commented: “Identity fraud is back with a vengeance. Our analysis shows that we are witnessing a surge in the number of detected identity frauds, with current accounts the number one target in the UK. Fraudsters see the current account as an easier option, giving them a springboard for money laundering and from where they can also target more lucrative credit products such as mortgages, credit cards and loans.”

Via EPR Network
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Experian Reveals Unlawful Social Housing Subletting In The UK Could Be Costing £2bn A Year

New research by Experian Public Sector has revealed that the threat of social housing tenancy fraud in the UK could be significantly larger than previously thought.

Based on an initial analysis of 125,000 social housing arrangements at just ten UK local authorities and housing associations in both rural and urban areas, Experian Public Sector’s experts estimate that potential fraudulent occupancy of social housing, such as subletting, could exist at a minimum of 157,077* properties when extrapolated up across the rest of the UK.

The Audit Commission estimated the level of tenancy fraud at 50,000 properties in 2009** but Experian Public Sector’s analysis suggests that the figure could now be at least three times higher than this.

The preliminary findings follow a series of data matching exercises which analysed social housing tenancy lists at ten UK local authorities and housing associations. The analysis looked for data that might suggest subletting and warrant further investigation. This involved the use of compliant information to identify a range of fraud indicators, including the number of tenants not currently occupying their tenancy address and found living at another address.

The analysis indicates that potential fraud, such as subletting, could exist within a minimum of 3.1 per cent of social properties. When extrapolated nationally, based on 5.06 million social properties, this suggests potential fraud could exist at a minimum of 157,077 properties in the UK.

If all of these social properties were subject to fraudulent activity and made available to people currently in temporary accommodation, the reduced cost and saving to the tax payer would be in excess of £2.0 billion*** a year. Freeing up existing social housing means reduced waiting lists which could also mean fewer new social properties need to be built.

Nick Mothershaw, Experian’s director of Fraud and Identity Solutions, commented: “Our initial research suggests that the level of social housing tenancy fraud in Britain could be much higher than previously estimated. It also demonstrates how more effective data matching can quickly provide a reliable indication of what could be illegal occupancy and subletting. This means investigators can prioritise and deal swiftly with fraudulent cases. Reducing social housing tenancy fraud will significantly reduce the cost of temporary accommodation which we estimate to be at over £2 billion a year.”

Via EPR Network
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