Identity Resolution Daily

Between mainstream media and the internet, identity theft gets a lot of press these days. Sure, it’s a real threat, and it’s scary; just ask anyone who’s ever seen unfamiliar charges pop up on their bank statement. While the problem is pretty widespread, some experts, like Michael Bloch at Taming the Beast, admit that the drastic figures may or may not be 100% accurate. Still, Bloch argues that

“whether there has been a real increase in fraud or just in the numbers of people lodging complaints is hard to say, but judging by what I see hit my inbox, the former certainly wouldn’t surprise me.”

However, identity theft (for instance, the familiar crime wherein somebody buys stuff using your stolen credit card numbers) is only one aspect of the larger category called Identity Fraud. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2006 Consumer Fraud Report (PDF), consumers reported over “670,000 cases of consumer fraud and identity theft,” of which 246,000 were identity theft. Every one of those identity theft victims can now offer advice about how to monitor your credit cards, watch your wallet or secure your email. Very few of them are likely to have a solution to the larger problem of identity fraud, especially as it relates to business and even federal security risks.

A growing number of organizations are starting to realize that by resolving identity fraud – at the point of sale/return and even internally by looking closely at potential employees – they can head off a major source of risk and the resulting losses. To businesses, minimizing those losses can add up to 2% to the top line. And, of course to the government it can mean saving countless lives.

For many businesses and government agencies, though, that kind of data management can be tricky. Resolving identities well over multiple databases means comparing individuals’ attributes, tracking lengthy and complicated histories and doing it all fast. Doing it while preserving the privacy of the identity can seem impossible. But when it’s done right, the benefits of identity resolution can be huge.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 9:27 am and is filed under Identity Fraud, Loss Prevention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.