Personal numbers are often used as a legitimate 'follow me' service where calls are diverted from one number to another. In the UK, they start with 070.

These numbers must be treated with extreme caution as they can allow criminals to mask their true number and maintain anonymity.

In one six-month period, 1 in every 1084 telephone numbers submitted and screened by GBG Trust was a personal number.

GBG Trust rule A9100 is one of hundreds that detect suspicious identity data and stop identity fraud before it can break into your business.

What are the odds of Patrick Joseph Oliver, Oliver Patrick Joseph and Joseph Oliver Patrick all signing up for your service on the same day?

Whether it's adding extra characters or shuffling names, criminal aliases are increasingly common in promotion abuse scams.

In tests carried out on 100,000 existing customer records, one business found that 88% of bonus abusers would have been busted had they been screened by GBG Trust.

GBG Trust rule A0059 is one of hundreds that detect suspicious identity data and stop identity fraud before it can break into your business.

There are many legitimate reasons for using a mailbox or mail forwarding address, but proof of address in an account application is not one of them.

Identity criminals trying to circumvent customer due diligence and to break into an unsuspecting business often use a genuine ‘virtual’ address to mask their true identity.

In one six-month period, 1 in 680 applications screened by GBG Trust was from a mailbox or forwarding address.

GBG Trust rule A8002 is one of hundreds that detect suspicious identity data and stop identity fraud before it can break into your business.

Postcodes are formed and formatted differently from country to country, sometimes covering a wide area, sometimes a single address. This creates space for identity fraud.

GBG Trust screens and compares an address and postcode to determine whether they deliver a good match or lead your business down a blind alley.

On average, almost 2% of addresses submitted to GBG Trust contain false postcodes, either by accident or deliberately faked to disguise location.

GBG Trust rule A9060 is one of hundreds that detect suspicious identity data and stop identity fraud before it can break into your business.

Among the colourful characters who attempt to sign up for services protected by the GBG Trust network, we can count a festive list of names.

Since Christmas 2023, Dasher [8], Dancer [528], Prancer [27], Vixen [2], Comet [9], Cupid [133], Donner [400], Blitzen [4] and Rudolph [840] have all been sighted many times.

Now, Santa [998] may give his reindeer team the year off? But just in case, we check the GBG Trust fictional names list twice, so we can know who’s been naughty or nice.

GBG Trust rule A9029 is one of hundreds that detect suspicious identity data and stop synthetic identity fraud before it can break into your business. Merry Christmas, everyone.