Debenhams Implements Leading Fraud Prevention Tools

The current economic climate has lead to increasing levels of online fraud as many fraudsters see ecommerce sites as easy pickings.  Debenhams has chosen to implement anti-fraud solutions from 192business to reduce costly chargebacks and increase their customer acquisition.

Anthony Leach, Debenhams Snr Online Operations Manager commented “In order to combat the continuing fraud challenges all online retailers face, we needed to further enhance our fraud screening and customer verification processes. 192business offered us a global solution which allows us to carry out quick, simple and efficient methods of robust identity verification. The ability to efficiently filter out fraudulent orders, thereby minimising chargebacks, whilst maximising customer revenue is crucial for our business as we seek to continue our growth.”

Michelle Dixon, Marketing Manager, 192business said “we are pleased that large retail brands such as Debenhams are utilising our global identity verification solutions to reduce expensive chargebacks.  We look forward to working with Debenhams to help them increase their global reach”.

Notes

Debenhams is a leading department store group with a strong presence in key product categories, including womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, homeware and health and beauty. Trading through in excess of 149 department stores in the UK and Republic Ireland and an online store, www.debenhams.com, through which much of the Debenhams range is available.

192business ID check solutions are commonly integrated into ecommerce sites to check customer identity in real transaction time so that the customer ID check process is invisible and does not interfere with the customer experience.  Over 1000 companies including global brands such as Panasonic, Halfords, and PKR.com use 192business ID checking solutions to verify customer identity. To find out more, please contact us, or request a free trial here...

Forum Encourages Pre-Employment Screening

The Metropolitan police have launched a new fraud forum: PREFIT; Protecting Employers From Insider Threats. Launched at Scotland Yard, the forum brings together agencies such as SOCA, the Metropolitan Police and the National Fraud Authority (NFA) with industry. Private companies supporting the forum already include Kroll, KPMG and pre employment screening companies such as The Security Watchdog and First Advantage.

David Chernick, Chairman of PREFIT explains more:

Importance of Pre-employment Screening

The launch event saw a number of other speakers from a diverse range of stakeholders, including Rachael Tiffen, chief internal auditor and anti-fraud manager at the London Borough of Waltham Forest who highlighted the need for pre-employment screening with a number of alarming applications that the Borough had managed to reject. Waltham Forest have strict screening controls in place, which have even lead to prosecutions for crimes such as possessing fake passports and other legal documents.

Rachael was also able to share some alarming figures regarding agency staff sent to the Borough; 31% had no right to work in the UK, whilst 15% of candidates sent via recruitment agencies had committed housing benefit fraud.

On an even more dramatic level, Paul Evans from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) talked about the need for a risk based approach to employee screening, citing examples of press journalists being able to access high profile jobs at the Palace as just one example of the threat to employers.

The need for vigilance was perhaps best summed up by David Hurst of CIFAS who quoted consultancy ControlRisks: “In a world of constantly changing threats, background screening is a first line of defense. Successfully implemented screening reduces the risk to a company from potentially fraudulent employees.”

Find Out More:

Please visit www.prefit.info for information on how you can get involved in the forum.

Full coverage of the launch event is available at www.info4security.com and we thank them for allowing us to use their video interview material.

You can find out more on how 192business aids employment screening on our recruitment compliance page.

German eCommerce Sees 28 Percent Growth

New research commissioned by German retailer Quelle has shown a 28.1% growth in the number of customers shopping online, compared to figures in 2007.

The research also shows the extent of online shopping penetration with 97.4% of German internet users aged 18-64 making at least one online purchase in the past 12 months.

These figures show that German ecommerce is expanding fast, and shows no signs of slow down and 92.4%  of shoppers surveyed expecting to continue to spend more online over the next 5 years.

With average expenditure being quoted as between EUR100 and EUR 499 the German online shopping market may continue to tempt more and more UK based retailers; but what do German customers look for?

Order fulfillment is of high importance with 93% of online customers surveyed saying that receiving their goods quickly was a big consideration when choosing to shop online, and a further 66% expect to receive their goods within 2 days of placing their order.

88% of customers stated that a simple and convenient purchase process was important to them, and a further 25% stated they are also concerned about privacy and security when ordering online. Interestingly, payment choice is also a major factor, and 86% of respondents would like to have multiple payment methods available to them.

More information about the report can be found at: http://www.quelle.com/de/presse/projekte-und-specials/studien/webshopping-2009.html

More information on how 192business can aid order fulfillment as well as fraud prevention can be found at:  www.192business.com/germany

iFraud: 10 Arrested in Online Music Fraud

The Metropolitan police have confirmed they have made 10 arrests as part of an international fraud which involved the FBI, the Met’s e-crime unit and officers from the West Midlands police.

10 people are being held for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, after they were caught downloading their own songs using stolen credit cards.

The gang is believed to have produced its own music tracks, which were then sold to a distributor who sold them via Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon’s similar music download service.  The gang then bought their own music using up to 1,500 stolen UK and US credit cards.  As well as the credit card fraud, the gang has been charged with money laundering offences as they were then paid $300,000 in royalties from purchasing the tunes – effectively using the music download sites to launder stolen cash.

The online fraud is believed to have begun in August 2008, and has involved international liaison between the FBI and the Metropolitan’s 12 month old e-crime unit. The arrests are a significant success for the unit, which was set up to provide online expertise in such cases. Over 60 officers were involved in arresting the seven men and three women, who were caught in London Kent, Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Detective Chief Inspector Terry Wilson, of the e-crime unit, commented on the success:

"We are now making it more risky for criminals who seek to exploit the internet and commit e-crime across national borders. We are working hard through partnership with industry and law enforcement to combat e-crime and are committed to pursuing those responsible."

Largest UK Visa Fraud Uncovered

Three people have been found guilty of various charges after the UK’s biggest visa fraud was uncovered in West London.

Rakhi Shar, Neelam Sharma, and their husband Jatinder Kumar Sharma were found guilty of offences including conspiracy to defraud, handling criminal property, money laundering, possessing an identity document with intent and various immigration offences.

It is believed that Sharma married both women in India and the trio then set up a consultancy called Univisas, which helped secure illegal visas for an estimated 1000 people. By creating false documents, the company was able to exploit the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and other leave to remain visa schemes.

As part of the scam the group forged thousands of documents including tax and wage forms, fake education certificates and bogus references. These were then used to apply for fraudulent work and student visas.

The group created thousands of bogus documents including college degree certificates, tax and wage forms, references and academic records, to secure UK visas including student visas. When Univisa’s offices were raided, police and border agency officials found over 90,000 fake documents, including fraudulent passports and 150 ink stamps.

Overseeing the case, Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson criticised a number of government agencies including the Home Office and the UK Border Agency for not diligently checking visa applications, stating that “the checks were woefully inadequate and frequently non-existent.” Visa fraud applicants were even able to give the same address for various different applications, and one applicant even changed gender during the checking process.

The visa fraud trio were caught after an undercover journalist was offered fraudulent id documents for £4,000 and reported the company to the authorities. It is estimated that the visa scam made £1.5 million for the company, who were so confident in their fake documents that they offered a money back guarantee to customers.

The scam highlights the need for employers to remain vigilant and to consider electronic identity verification and id document checks as part of their recruitment and safeguarding process. For more information please see our recruitment compliance page.