Unchallenged malicious refunds from high street names will be subject to renewed forensic analysis, by a new online tool. The aim; that retailers share data and profile serial claimants that products they bought online are GLIT (Goods Lost in Transit). It’s suggested the cost could run into the hundreds of millions per year, with £40 being the average cost of a claim. The total is unknown as retailers may put the losses down to the ‘cost of doing business’ and not investigate a claim, and simply classify it differently in end of year figures.
Claims Detect Online says that it can monitor and analyse the audit trail of thousands of transactions across multiple retailers to spot suspicious claims and anomalies. That’s the new name for Praesidio set up in 2017 by the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS), the Nottingham-based not-for-profit body that works with police and the business members to tackle serious and organised crime.
The online tool widens the net by including a lower amount – £2,000 – to attract smaller retailers and complement the transaction data already provided by NBCS’s larger brands to highlight the true extent of the problem. Contributing retailers have already identified millions of pounds worth of potentially fraudulent claims through their dashboard reporting. They are able to identify persistent refund behaviour, as well as the modus operandi and claim matches from other users, while specific confidential data is anonymised to comply with GDPR (data protection) requirements. As NBCS adds, identifing malicious claims can also mean better customer service to legitimate customers.
Simran Baghara, fraud and legal services manager for Claims Detect Online, is pictured. She said: “As part of its proof of concept in 2017, Praesidio provided enriched data that identified malicious claims went beyond retail and we were able to provide a full report to the Insurance Fraud Bureau. That was achieved with a handful of claims – so imagine what we can achieve by throwing the net wider. We know the offering is strong because it is the only solution out there that can join together all of the information strands to enable businesses to make intelligence-led decisions. By using three key GDPR compliant indicators, it distinguishes between the fraudulent and the legitimate customer claims so that the latter are helped on their customer journey rather than penalised for fraud.
“This collaboration means businesses no longer need to write-off fraudulent claims as the cost of doing business. It will also help contributors with information to assist their negotiations with third party delivery companies where an issue is identified at that point of the customer journey.”
Visit www.nationalbusinesscrimesolution.com.
