Enlisting the computer ID number to fight fraud

Uniondale, NY-based Safewww Inc., which markets an identity authentication product to online retailers, is launching FraudNet to identify and track repeat online fraudsters by recording their computer numbers and blocking the computers’ ability to complete a transaction after they have been the source of a fraudulent transaction. "Cyber-criminals often steal multiple online identities or credit card numbers, and then use this information to commit fraud from a single computer," says Kenneth Bob, president and CEO of Safewww. The company says online retailers often find out much later that they were hit with fraud by the same computer.

Safewww is targeting the product at credit card transaction acquirers as well as alternative payment systems, such as person-to-person systems or other payment programs in which the consumer has to register in order to perform a transaction. When users sign up to use payment systems online that use FraudNet they agree to have their computer ID stored for authentication purposes, Bob says. The company says the system does not infringe on consumers’ privacy because it only logs information on computer IDs that have fraud histories. "Only people who get caught have their computer IDs entered into the database," he says.