Many consumers, sometimes unknowingly and sometimes with 100 percent premeditation, use incorrect personal information. Some of them use such false identities for criminal activities – especially financial abuses.
However, the use of false IDs also occurs in more mundane situations. Increasingly, they involve “ordinary” activities – such as making reservations or online purchases, or even – leaving data in exchange for access to materials or platforms. What looks like innocent behavior means additional, often significant costs for companies.
The problem of providing false data is serious, as in the UK alone, according to Think.Digital, it is estimated to affect nearly 8.6 million people (2022 figures), or as much as 16% of the population.
Do you notice that this phenomenon is increasingly affecting your business as well, but don’t quite know how to deal with it? Read on to learn about the solution to minimize or completely eliminate this threat.
Leaving aside the irregularities caused by simple human errors, the reasons for using so-called “fake data” can be really different.
On the one hand, we can see them in the desire to remain anonymous, as some users simply do not want to share information about themselves.
It should be made clear that this kind of activity can also have personality overtones. Many people use false information to create an alternative version of “themselves” that they present, if only on social media.
Last on our list are activities that are mainly aimed at financial abuse. To this matter we can qualify activities that allow to “bypass” the need to pay for a product or service. A flagship example of such activities is the creation of multiple accounts on sites and services that offer free trial periods for new users. Such scams can involve, among others, telecom services, VOD platforms or SaaS apps.
However, the problem of fake data becomes even more serious if we consider the fact that it can be used for more serious abuse – such as signing contracts or taking out loans.
While some of the mentioned activities may on the surface look completely harmless, they actually carry a huge risk for companies and institutions..
Consider, for example, the aforementioned services and platforms that offer free packages, trial periods or other benefits to their new users. If you are in this kind of business, any account created using fake data means real financial losses for you..
Incorrectly completed data has also negative impact in the area of lead generation. Depending on the sales channel, the percentage of applications rejected on formal grounds can range from 4 to as high as 21%. Needless to say, this poses a serious challenge for companies – exposing them to both increased costs and wasted time.
It is worth remembering that in many cases this kind of information is used “further” – among other things, for analysis, reports and formulation of conclusions. If your business decisions are based on such false data – you will lose not only money, but also a lot of valuable time.
In this case, the whole thing will work, like 3-step dominoes:
1. Incorrect data will disrupt your company’s analytics.
2. They will be used to plan and execute suboptimal activities (e.g., marketing).
3. They will expose you to serious losses related to, for example, decreased efficiency, higher costs of customer acquisition or other activities.
The answer to all the mentioned challenges is in-depth and multi-stage data verification, which you can do in 2 different ways.
The first is to act in-house, i.e. delegate specialists and allocate the funds and resources needed to purchase software and access relevant databases.
The second (more effective) is to use the ready-made Algolytic tool which will allow you to efficiently, quickly and, most importantly, automatically ‘catch’ potentially false data.
The solution detects data manipulation, for which it uses, among other things, cross-checking, verification of external address and PESEL databases. In addition, it also performs biometric analysis and verifies user behavior, which makes it possible to record unusual activities (such as submitting applications on the same device using several different credentials).
It also efficiently handles the detection of bots and other malware.
The tool also performs well in situations where incorrect address data was entered completely by accident. In this area it uses our proprietary solution (AlgoMaps), which allows for error elimination, address data autocomplete and efficient data standardization.
The Scoring.One tool is available in two versions. You can purchase access alone and use it as you wish (thanks to the use of API, implementation is quick and easy). Or you can opt for a comprehensive service, i.e. access to the tool and support from Algolytics specialists. You decide!
Make an appointment for a free consultation with our experts. We will be happy to learn more about the specifics of your business, so that we can propose and implement the most suitable solution to counteract the further use of fake data.
