Robert Dyas Implements Age Check Policy on Lead up to Christmas

As the Christmas period approaches, Robert Dyas has taken steps to be more responsible when selling their products online. With many of their festive hampers containing alcohol they will verify their customers’ age and identity before each transaction is processed.

The leading retailer of kitchenware, household accessories, gardening products, gadgets, consumables and DIY goods wants their customers to be 100%confident when purchasing from their home shopping service and believe when selling age restricted goods online they need to be extra vigilant and have incorporated an automated Age Verification solution to help when their sales increase at this time of year.

They have implemented the 192business identity verification tool to carry out behind the scenes ID checks when transactions are being processed on the Robert Dyas Direct website. This has no impact on the customer experience but will check their details against a number of databases to ensure they are old enough to buy the goods in their online basket.

The solution will ensure Robert Dyas complies with online age related legislations when selling products such as alcohol, knives, aerosols and solvents.

Direct Debit Fraud Rises

New figures released show that 97,000 UK residents have fallen victim to fraudulent direct debits being created without their permission.

A study conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) on behalf of insurer LV= indicates that 26,000 people so far have found unauthorised direct debits in their name, with an average of £540 being taken before anyone notices and ceases the payment.

This increase of 288% since 2006, is being blamed on chip and pin which has made credit card fruad increasingly difficult to perpetrate. Direct debit fraud can be used to pay for services such as gym memberships, mobile phone accounts and TV subscriptions, or can be used to make a payment to a fraudster’s account and labelled with a service provider’s name making it  more difficult to detect and stop.

As well as chip and pin fraud, LV= point out that old and duplicated direct debits make DD fraud easier to perpetrate and more difficult for customers to detect. Forgotten Direct Debits take an average of four months for customers to detect and question.

The research also claims that the number of direct debit frauds is set to escalate over the next 3 years, a claim which has been questioned by Bacs who last year processed over 3 billion payments with a total value of almost £882bn; “Without seeing the report, it's difficult to comment on its contents, however, we question the validity of the data used to predict any future increases in incidence of Direct Debit fraud, particularly from two parties who do not have an industry-wide overview".

More stringent identity checks on customers setting up direct debit payments may help to ease the problem of direct debit fraud; particularly in cases such as setting up memberships, or other services where there is no clear address link or tangible goods sent.

For customers, Bacs has explained in their statement: "If a customer believes funds have been taken incorrectly from their bank account by direct debit, they should contact their bank branch immediately to request that the money be returned under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee."

Beware Counterfeit Christmas Websites

Trading Standards are warning customers to be aware of counterfit websites being created as peak trading begins. Websites selling counterfeit goods, or taking payments and not delivering items, are easy to create, however they can often be difficult to effectively shut down where they are hosted outside of the UK.

Tiffany & Co, UGG and GHD are amongst brands that have been affected by fraudulent copy cat sites. As well as the loss suffered by consumers, fake sites can damage brand reputation, but also become a source for fraudsters to gather card details for them to commit CNP fraud on other genuine sites.

The OFT have also issued advice for people buying tickets after a number of fans were defrauded over the summer whilst trying to buy festival tickets. High profile concerts such as the Take That reunion tour have also attracted the attention of fraudsters keen to play on the high demand for a limited number of tickets.

The OFT has now produced it’s own fake website to try and educate consumers on what to look for when purchasing.

Websites such as www.uggaustralia.com and www.gdhair.com also provide information for consumers including a website checker where consumers can verify that they are buying a genuine brand, as well as view a list of unapproved suppliers.

Further advice for customers can be found on the Action Fraud website.

Phil Jones Outgoing ICO Assistant Commissioner Joins 192business

Phil Jones, the outgoing Assistant Commissioner at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been appointed as an advisor to 192business, leading provider of tracing and people & business finding technology to the debt recovery industry.

Mr Jones will advise 192business on matters relating to database licensing, data protection and data usage to help 192business further their range of datasets used to help the debt recovery industry chase an estimated £20billion of funds each year.

Phil Jones worked for the ICO and its predecessor organisations as Assistant Commissioner for 20 years before retiring in July 2010.  Throughout this time he has provided advice across the private and public sectors on data protection and electronic communications, presenting at major conferences and representing the ICO in the UK and internationally.

Keith Marsden, Managing Director of 192business said: “We have over 1,000 organisations using our database search technology to trace and find people and businesses and it’s vital that we work with experienced information professionals like Phil to make sure that we license and use data responsibly.”

Phil Jones said, “Businesses are entitled to seek to recover debts. However, where they use personal information purpose it is imperative that it has been sourced legitimately and is used in compliance with data protection law. I look forward to working with 192business and helping the industry use personal information legitimately in effective debt recovery”.

Mr Jones will begin his appointment to the 192business board of advisors immediately.

Councils Uncover £35million Worth of Fraud

The Audit Commission has revealed that English councils uncovered 120,000 instances of fraud last year. The total cost of the fraud uncovered totalled more than £135m at a time when public spending is under close review.

The frauds consisted of:

£99million of benefit fraud – including a total of 63,000 false benefit claims

£15million of council tax fraud -which includes false single occupancy claims

£21million worth of false insurance claims - also including disabled parking ‘blue badge’ fraud.

Whilst the frauds uncovered totalled £135million it is estimated that the 1,600 homes that were recovered by councils had a replacement cost much higher – estimated to be in the region of £240million.

Much of the housing fraud was unveiled as part of the National Fraud Initiative which sees the audit commission carry out a sophisticated data matching exercise to identify anomalies. There are now some concerns over job cuts affecting the amount of fraud uncovered, with Chairman of the Audit Commission Michael O'Higgins urging that fraud detection remain a priority despite the outcomes of the spending review.

The complete report, entitled ‘Protecting the public purse; fighiting fraud against local government and local taxpayers’ is available online via the Audit Commission website, and describes action taken by councils as well as a checklist for those responsible for preventing and detecting fraud.