Time up for identity cheats

Identity fraud in South Africa has almost trebled in the past four years - a headache for most but a business opportunity for others.

New online identification and verification company This Is Me said growth in the |e-commerce industry could be faster if not for concerns about fraud.

"In the online world, protecting yourself by taking ownership of your identity is a trend that is becoming a necessity," said CEO Mark Chirnside.

The process involves a person submitting your identity document, cellphone number, proof of residence and bank account details.

The company also verifies the applicant's identity document with the Department of Home Affairs.

"There is no cost to register but corporates pay a minimum of R25 to verify their clients. The challenge is getting the user to trust our website, which is something we still have to work on," said Chirnside.

This would involve working alongside online companies to help build trust.

He said data was securely stored and not shared with anyone. "This is what sets us apart from other databases."

Those who wanted to deregister would have their details deleted from the database.

In an interview with Carte Blanche, SA Fraud Prevention Unit's Carol McLoughlin said identity fraud was a growing problem that had almost trebled in the past four years. The unit expected about 4000 cases to be reported by the end of the this year.

OLX operational manager Sharon Knowels said it pulled out 3000 false adverts a day.

Gumtree South Africa marketing head Claire Cobbledick said the company liked This Is Me's idea because verification gave users a level of comfort.

Gumtree has about 8million users a month, some of whom have been victims of scams.

"We can't check or verify everything but we can use our filtering processes and engage with our users, the SAPS and others to minimise cyber crime," she said.

Mark Walker, regional director of software company IDC, said there was a gap in the market for personal online verification.

"But with all the security concerns going around, especially with databases being linked, they will need to manage it very well to get a good reputation."