Cibil to help spot fraudsters faster

Credit Information Bureau (India) (Cibil), the country’s first such agency, has introduced a data pool that will contain information on proven fraudsters, their modus operandi and also a list of people who are under investigation.

This will make it difficult for fraudsters to repeat the crime with other institutions.

Under this service, called Cibil Detect, the 260-odd banks and financial institutions that are members of Cibil, will be able to analyse information on frauds committed. Lenders and credit offering companies will now have access to a database that will reflect details on fraudsters (the permanent account number, address, name etc used).

“People (who commit frauds) keep changing and so historical data will not help till we are able to analyse it,” said Arun Thukral, managing director, Cibil. “We have a database of 50,000 cases.

We are in the process of enriching it. Around 40-odd institutions have provided data,” he added. “As we get more and more data and history you can not just see his relationship with other banks but also the modus operandi used,” Thukral said.

Cibil is in the process of getting the rest 220 members inclined with the format of reporting for this new product. “The standardised format has been put together by a committee of around 18 banks set up by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).”

K Unnikrishnan, deputy chief executive of IBA, said, as more banks start reporting fraud data to Cibil, the database would become more useful to the banking system.

“Anywhere, anytime banking facilities make it easier for fraudsters to remain faceless and siphon funds out of the system. As fraudsters move from one bank to another to avoid detection, we had thought of creating a database on frauds to serve as a due-diligence tool for banks,” Unnikrishnan said.

But what if your personal identification details have been misused?

In case someone else’s personal identification details have been used for frauds, banks need to have check in place, Thukral said. “If the person is not genuine and has used the address of someone else for a fraudulent activity then they (banks/ financial institutions) need to do a further due diligence. This will save the genuine customers,” Thukral said.

But, in case of non-committal of fraud being confirmed, it will take at least one month for the database to reflect that. Asked why it should not be done as and when the fraud is detected, Thukral said, “First the data and the basic ground rules should evolve… Over time the motive is to enable banks and members to update the status online”.