Reparo integrates HooYu face identity confirmation platform to catch fraudsters

Business lender Reparo Finance Limited recently integrated HooYu’s identity confirmation platform to prevent criminals from stealing the identities of UK nationals.

HooYu’s identity confirmation platform combines digital footprint analysis, document authentication, facial biometrics and identity scoring to expand Reparo’s ‘customer due diligence’ process.

In one of the first Reparo applications that HooYu was integrated into, HooYu successful identified a fraudster that had already passed the first layer of customer due diligence where name and address data is checked against the identity verification databases from one of the main UK credit reference agencies.

The fraudster had stolen the identity of a UK citizen and had sufficient data to pass identity database checks and impersonate their victim.

The HooYu platform detected the loan application as a imposter based on several inconsistencies found in the application and promptly alerted Reparo that they were using a fake ID document.

“Checking databases of names and addresses is no longer the defence it used to be given the volume of data breaches and the amount of identity data that fraudsters can access,” said David Pope, marketing director at HooYu. “HooYu is a new approach to identity verification that looks beyond the name and address to examine and cross-reference an identity against multiple sources using a customer’s digital footprint and their identity documentation in addition to traditional static identity databases.”

HooYu’s service is integrated into a merchant’s site and customers are asked to take a selfie, share their online identity such as Facebook or LinkedIn, and take a photo of their driving licence, ID card or passport.

The service then takes the data and scores identity information from the user’s online identity and ID documents, authenticates their ID document, and completes a biometric facial verification.

“Just because a customer’s name and address has matched to a traditional credit reference agency database doesn’t mean that a customer is who they say they are,” said Sharon Bryden, operations director at Reparo. “HooYu is a great tool for us in fraud prevention and this first fraud that HooYu has identified shows how much more powerful this is than traditional AML/KYC checks. Many lenders now offer an end-to- end online process where the customers are not met face-to- face and HooYu is key to preventing dealing with fraudulent applications.”

In June HooYu released a report titled “Trust & Identity in the Sharing Economy” that reveals that businesses operating in the sharing economy are being hindered by consumer concerns over trust in the identity of the other party in the transaction.

Article Topics

banking  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  selfie biometrics