METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ESTABLISHING AN IDENTITY CONFIDENCE DATABASE

• US 20100274597A1
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: Western Union
• Inventors: Dill, Matthew Leland
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety

Abstract

The invention provides various systems and methods for establishing an identity confidence scoring system. The method includes gathering identity information about the customers from physical locations and from remote locations. The method updates the identity profiles with the gathered identity information, and based on the gathered identity information, generates an identity confidence score associated with each identity profile.

Claims

1. A method of establishing an identity confidence score, the method comprising:

gathering, at a computer system, identity information about at least one customer from physical locations;

gathering, at the computer system, identity information about the at least one customer from remote locations;

updating, at the computer system, an identity profile for the at least one customer with the gathered identity information; and

based on the gathered identity information, generating, at the computer system, an identity confidence score associated with the at least one customer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

increasing the at least one customer'"'"'s identity score based on a positive identity transaction; and

decreasing the at least one customer'"'"'s identity score based on a negative identity transaction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a positive identity transaction includes one or more of the following:

a successful ID check, a non-fraudulent transaction, and a successful ID verification.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a negative identity transaction includes one or more of the following:

a fraudulent transaction, a charge-back, and an unsuccessful ID verification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical locations include one or more of the following locations:

a branch office, a bank office, a mobile service provider, and an agent location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each type of physical location effects the identity confidence score at a different rate.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the mobile service provider provides service to mobile devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile devices include one or more of the following devices:

a cellular device, a portable device, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a smartphone.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising using the cellular device of at least one of the plurality of customers for identification purposes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote locations include one or more of the following locations:

a mobile device interface, a website interface, and a telephone.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each type of remote location effects the identity confidence score at a different rate.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the identity information includes one or more of the following:

home address, work address, first and last name, duration of time at the home address, and a type of identification.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering history information for the plurality of customers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the history information includes one or more of the following:

a number of transactions, a monetary amount of the transactions, a relationship duration, length of time a customer owns a mobile device, and a length of time the customer owns a bank account.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the identity confidence scores further comprises weighting the identification information, and based on the weighting generating a weighted identity confidence score associated with each of the plurality of customers.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathering of the identity information from the remote and the physical locations occurs using a network interface.

17. A system of maintaining an identity confidence system, the system comprising:

host computer configured to process transactions for an account of a customer, capture transaction data for each of the transactions, analyze the transaction data for each of the transactions, use the analysis to identify the customer, identify transactions which exceed a transaction amount threshold; and

a device connected with the host computer, the device configured to, based on one of the transactions exceeding the threshold, receive a identification verification request, transmit a response to the host computer providing proper verification;

wherein the host computer is further configured to update the customer'"'"'s identity confidence score based on the receiving of the response with the proper verification.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the verification message is transmitted to the device using a messaging system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the messaging system includes one or more of the following:

a short message service (SMS) message, a voicemail message, and an email message.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the host computer is further configured to, based on the customer failing to respond to the verification request, placing a notation in the customer'"'"'s account.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the host computer is further configured to, in response to placing the notation in the customer'"'"'s account, require the customer to provide identification verification at the physical customer service location.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the host computer is further configured to, in response to the customer providing identification verification at the physical customer service location, remove the notation on the customer'"'"'s account.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the host computer is further configured to utilize the providing of the identification verification or the failing to provide the identification information to update the customer'"'"'s identity confidence score.

24. A machine-readable medium having a set of instructions stored thereon for establishing an identity confidence database which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

gather identity information about at least one customer from physical locations;

gather identity information about the at least one customer from remote locations;

update an identity profiles with the gathered identity information; and

based on the gathered identity information, generate an identity confidence score associated with the at least one customer.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 24, wherein the generating of the identity confidence scores further comprises instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to weight the identification information, and based on the weighting generate a weighted identity confidence score associated with each of the plurality of customers.