Patent ID: 8712888
Filing Date: 2014-04-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for assessing sales activity of a merchant using a computer system coupled to one or more databases, the sales activity including purchases made by cardholders from a plurality of merchants, the cardholders using the cardholders' own financial transaction card, the sales activity conducted over a financial transaction card network, said method comprising the steps of: generating and storing within a merchant profile database, a profile for each of the plurality of merchants, each merchant profile comprising an account identifier corresponding to each financial transaction card used by the cardholders in at least one transaction with the merchant associated with the merchant profile; storing within a violator merchant profile database, a profile for each of one or more violator merchants, wherein the violator merchant profile includes a list of financial transaction card numbers for each cardholder that made valid purchases from the violator merchant during a predetermined period of time; periodically comparing, at a predetermined frequency, a stored violator merchant profile to one or more stored merchant profiles using statistical analysis to determine a degree of correlation between the stored violator merchant profile and of the one or more stored merchant profiles, the comparison performed by the computer; identifying at least one potential violator merchant for further investigation based on the comparison between the violator merchant profile and the merchant profiles; and storing the merchant profile of the at least one potential violator merchant as a violator merchant profile in the violator merchant profile database after an investigation determines the potential violator merchant is a violator merchant, the violator merchant defined as a merchant using the financial transaction card network to engage in at least one of a sale of an illegal product using a financial transaction card, and a sale of a potentially illegal product using a financial transaction card, each violator merchant profile stored in a violation category along with other violator merchant profiles based on a type of violation.