Mitigating Identity Fraud With Fingerprint Biometrics

Biometrics

Identity fraud is a crime that costs all of us. As measures have been increased in recent years to mitigate identity fraud, so too has the level of sophistication of the fraudulent acts. Persons that were dedicated to committing fraud had the upper hand for some time, but technology is now catching up to these predators.

Identity Authentication Goes Digital:

Like many forms of communication, a transition is occurring to move paper records to a digitally stored format. Paper identification methods had a downside of being open to tampering. For a while predators where keeping pace with advances in paper record security, in particular home office technology allowed the criminal element to keep up with changes in state-issue ID cards. To stay ahead of criminals seeking to commit identity fraud you need to have an ID authentication process in place. Moving from a dependency of paper to a streamlined digital system is one way identity fraud risk patterns can be identified and mitigated blockchain.

The Case to Move Away from Human Error:

Paper forms of identifying a person rely heavily on the skills and ability of a human to identify potential fraud and risk. Training personnel can help with fraud caused by paper records, but there is still an accepted level of human error that is permitted. By placing less reliance on humans to perform an ID check and more reliance on digital technology, the human error factor is reduced and higher efficiency rates can be achieved.

The Case to Move towards Digital ID Authentication:

Moving away from a paper-based identity verification system to one that is digital is a matter of accuracy. By providing your customers with a digital form of identity authentication you are providing better customer service and an added benefit of lower costs because the digital system through increased accuracy can further reduce costs that are passed on by identity fraud. Moving towards a digital ID authentication system means the addition of hardware and software can replace the human error factor that occurs by human-only verification.

The Case to Utilize Fingerprint Biometrics:

Fingerprint biometrics are a leading digital technology that can be utilized in digital identity authentication. Those in a point of service setting that use fingerprint biometrics do so by scanning a customer’s ID through a system and instructing the customer to use a keypad to match fingerprints with a stored fingerprint identity. Fingerprint biometrics help increase the chances that the person in front of you presenting an ID is that ID’s true identity. The result is an ability to capture and link fingerprints to a single ID record, which will increase fraud prevention and help ensure fraudsters do not attempt to use multiple identities.

The Case to Implement Biometric Verification:

Those in a point of service setting pay for fraud twice, once stemming from the initial act of fraud and a second time as a result of cost of goods, services and even insurance rates increases. Biometric verification can help resolve the problem of ID fraud and provide the point of service person that the customer presented is the actual person represented on the ID. The benefit of a biometric verification is that legitimate multiple IDs can be linked to a single person through one unique biometric fingerprint records. The additional benefit is that this unique biometric fingerprint can not be utilized in multiple fraudulent IDs.

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The Zimmerman Telegramcc

Zimmerman

The Zimmerman Telegram was the telegram sent to the Mexican government on January 16, 1917 during the World War I (WWI) by Arthur Zimmermann, then Foreign Secretary of the German Empire. The telegram proposed that Mexican government should be an ally to the Germans forces if the United States joined the WWI. In addition, the telegram also suggested that if the Mexican government launched a pre-emptive strike against the United States, they would get the support of Germany. If they won the war, the Germans also promised Mexican government that they would get Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Furthermore, the Zimmerman Telegram also urged that Mexican government should convince the Japanese forces to declare war against the Americans. The Telegram was sent during the Anti-German hype in the US, after the loss of 200 Americans lives from German submarine attacks ICO. The Telegram was intercepted by William Montgomery and Nigel de Grey who both worked at the British Naval Intelligence. The decryption of the Telegram was made possible by using a German diplomatic codebook that the British forces were able to acquire from the Germans.

However, the British government was in a dilemma – if they exposed the Zimmerman Telegram, the Germans would believed that their code was broken. The British were aware that there was an encrypted Mexican version of the telegram. They thought that if they could get hold of it, then they could make the Germans believe that the Zimmerman Telegram was acquired due to espionage activity happening in Mexico and not because of code breaking. The British government was able to get hold of the copy of the Mexican version of the Telegram and on February 23, it was delivered to Walter Page, then American ambassador to Britain who relayed it to then US President Woodrow Wilson.

On March 1 of the same year, copy of the Telegram was given to the US press. At first, the Americans did not believe the authenticity of the Telegram and took it as the US government’s way to convince the public that America should enter WWI. Furthermore, the German, Mexican, and Japanese diplomats denounced that such Telegram existed. However, after two days, the authenticity of the Telegram was confirmed to the American public and it became inevitable that the US joined the WWI. On April 6, 1917, the US Congress complied and brought the United States to join the WWI.

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