Existence service to eradicate Impersonation of the Deceased fraud
Released
on: November 14, 2008, 8:39 am
Press
Release Author: Tracesmart
Corporate
Industry:
Internet
& Online
Press
Release Summary: Tracesmart aim to make IOD fraud a thing of the
past
Press
Release Body: Making
a concerted effort to stamp out Impersonation of the Deceased
(IOD) fraud, Tracesmart, leading suppliers of identity verification
tools, have this week launched Existence – a new suite of services
with the potential to eliminate IOD fraud.
IOD
is a form of identity fraud - it is estimated by the Home Office
Identity Fraud Steering Committee, that identity fraud costs the
UK economy £1.7 billion annually. Whilst IOD fraud has historically
been hard to tackle due to the lack of death records being made
available, recent changes in legislation have allowed the UK General
Register Offices (GRO) to release death registration information
(DRI) to commercial bodies with the aim of preventing fraud. It
is this move that has enabled Tracesmart to develop their suite
of services which will tackle IOD fraud head on.
Combining
in-depth mortality screening
and residency verification, the service allows users to ascertain
whether an individual is alive and if they reside at their given
address. Paul Weathersby, Technical Director at Tracesmart, commented
on the data which drives these checks.
"The
mortality screening element of our Existence services draws upon
the GRO’s DRI data and the residency verifier calls upon a variety
of consumer datasets including historic Electoral Rolls, leading
gone away files and BT OSIS amongst others. The combination of
these checks allows us to confidently identify deceased individuals
and gone aways."
The
Existence suite comprises three services with which clients can
conduct existence checks.
Existence Search is an online facility which can be used to conduct
single ad-hoc checks; Existence Batch is a batch screening service
where multiple persons can be verified and the third, and possibly
most significant service, is Existence Alert - an early warning
system that notifies users of mortalities at the earliest possible
opportunity.
Tracesmart has long provided tools
for conducting identity checks
and has a strong history in the field of fraud prevention. The
combination of this experience and access to DRI will enable the
Existence services to effectively help put an end to IOD fraud.
Mike Trezise, Managing Director at Tracesmart, has already seen
a high volume of interest in the product.
"Prior to launch we approached
several key clients in the pension and financial sectors to gauge
market interest in the product. As we suspected, the demand is
most certainly there and we already have prominent pensions administrators
and large schemes utilising the system to replace certificate
of existence exercises, and many in the financial sector are
employing it as part of their know
your customer checks. Preventing IOD fraud will save businesses
considerable amounts of money and protect consumers from both
fiscal and emotional harm."
Notes to Editors
- Impersonation of the Deceased (IOD) Fraud
– This form of fraud occurs when the identity of a deceased
individual is assumed and used for fraudulent purposes.
- Tracesmart Ltd – Formed in 1999, Tracesmart
supply a range of fraud prevention services via their electronic
identity verification and data cleansing tools. Prominent
in the pensions, legal, financial and retail sectors, their
fraud prevention systems are relied upon by businesses ranging
from SME to Blue Chip.
- Paul Weathersby – Tracesmart’s Technical
Director, Weathersby is the driving force behind the development
and production of Tracesmart's suite of web-based services,
and manages and directs their experienced IT team.
- Mike Trezise – Founder and Managing Director
of Tracesmart, Trezise has extensive experience in fraud analysis
and prevention, experience which provides the company with
a distinct competitive advantage.
Web Site: http://www.tracesmartcorporate.co.uk/
Contact
Details:
Contact: Adam Smith –
Marketing Manager
- Tracesmart Ltd
- 2 Sovereign Quay
- Havannah Street
- Cardiff
- CF10 5SF
- Tel: 029 2047 4120
- Mobile: 07976 637091
- Email: adam@tracesmart.co.uk
- Photos/Images Available on Request.
2009
