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The co-founders of Trustev, Chris Kennedy and Pat Phelan Trustev.com

Anti-fraud startup does away with bills (at least for ID purposes)

Cork-based startup Trustev, which prevents online fraud by using your social media accounts, is bringing the same verification process to physical stores.

CORK-BASED STARTUP Trustev is doing away with the idea of needing a bill as proof of identity. Instead, it’s using your social media account the next time you purchase something in-store.

The company, which specialises in online fraud prevention through real-time verification, is bringing its services to physical stores with the launch of Retail Decisions.

The service follows the same format as its online counterpart – customers use their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account to verify their identity before purchasing goods – but instead of happening online, customers log in through an iOS and Android app via a store tablet.

The service would remove the need for customers to bring in documents such as utility bills and bank accounts as proof of their identity.

For those who are worried about logging into their Facebook account while in a store, The CMO of Trustev, Donal Calahane, says that the service connects to your account for “about two seconds” before automatically logging out and deletes all traces of your profile.

Instead, the service looks at the metadata of an account to verify a person’s identity.

The app, in the way that it’s constructed, is very clear [in what it does]. We connect to your Facebook for about two seconds, and you’re immediately logged out, we delete all traces.

We don’t look at the English language… or the content, we look at the metadata behind it.

Calahane said the feature came after working with UK telecom companies who wanted its online fraud-prevention services to be available in-store.

image

One of the screens presented when asked to log in. Those who don’t have a Facebook account can use alternative accounts to verify their identity (Image: Trustev)

The two problems faced with current services is that those working in the store aren’t qualified to check documents to see whether you’re telling the truth, and the actual checking of these documents doesn’t actually happen until much later.

As a result, one of the phone providers the startup worked with lost £300,000 worth in handsets in December because of fraudulent documents being submitted in-store.

Currently, the service is trialing with two European telecom companies based in the UK, but the service has already gathered interest from other industries such as banks who would use it to create “a situation where someone can walk into a bank and walk out with a fully-functioning account,” according to Calahane.

The company is also talking to a number of companies in Ireland and it expects to see a number of businesses and stores adopt the service soon.

It (the service) started in the UK because that’s where the customer request came from, but we are talking to a number of companies in Ireland. We would expect within two months to have it up and running in a number of Irish businesses.

Trustev has received a number of accolades since it was founded in 2012. The startup was named the EU’s best technology startup in June and was named one of Forbes’ hot global startup.

The service currently has more than 100 customers for its online service, and processes more than 250,000 records every day.

Read: Scammers are going ‘phishing’ for Revenue customer details >

Read: Two Passport office employees arrested in new fraud investigation >

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    Mute Mick Coughlan
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    Nov 25th 2014, 11:23 AM

    Apple are a joke

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Nov 25th 2014, 11:25 AM

    You’re not very funny either

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    Mute Mick Coughlan
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    Nov 25th 2014, 11:26 AM

    What’s going on man you used to be cool?

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Nov 25th 2014, 11:34 AM

    Well, it was a dumb comment want it. Apple a joke ?

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    Mute Mick Coughlan
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    Nov 25th 2014, 12:05 PM

    You want some?

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    Mute Stephen Earle
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    Nov 25th 2014, 4:39 PM

    Want some what, your wit?

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    Mute Marko Burns
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    Nov 25th 2014, 12:16 PM

    Ironic considering people are walking around with their heads stuck in their phones avoiding the real world.

    How about a vr lamposts avoidance game? Sure to be a bestseller..

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    Mute Twink's Teddy
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    Nov 25th 2014, 12:27 PM

    That wouldn’t be considered ironic, quite the opposite in fact – it would be obvious, or expected..

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    Mute Enda O Brien
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    Nov 25th 2014, 10:46 AM

    Been there done that.

    Red Alarm Trailer – Nintendo Virtual Boy: http://youtu.be/9cpnhAXoyWU

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    Mute Twink's Teddy
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    Nov 25th 2014, 11:56 AM

    Can’t wait for their Walled Garden app

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    Mute Partysauras Rex
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    Nov 25th 2014, 12:04 PM

    Google have a similar app where a guy follows you everywhere taking pictures of everything you look at.

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    Nov 25th 2014, 12:17 PM

    That doesn’t sound similar, it sounds completely different.

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    Mute James Corbett
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:17 AM

    I’ve been making presentations on virtual reality for the last year and keep reminding people that what allowed Oculus to bring this to market now, is that a VR headset is essentially a mobile phone. Granted, with a lot of optimizations. And without the radios… but you know what I mean.

    It’s obvious that all high-end smartphones are going to serve dual purpose as VR headsets in a few short years – just pick up a head strap as an accessory. And the Galaxy Note 4 is the first step in that direction. What’s disappointing about Google Cardboard and other VR ‘head cases’ is that any other smpartphone will not deliver a good experience, due to high latency (you move your head and the image takes a long time to catch up = sea sickness). So that’s what’s great about the Galaxy Note 4 and Samsung Gear VR — they worked with Oculus for a year to bring that latency right down, to something like 20ms, which is low enough that the brain doesn’t register it. But Oculus has been working on these problems for 2 years now so it’ll be interesting to see if Apple can go it alone and deliver the same kind of performance.

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