Patent ID: 7801828

Claim:
A method for detecting a presence of identity theft and reducing a likelihood of identity theft in a transaction, comprising the steps of: receiving and storing identity data of a customer on a computer readable storage medium for processing interactively and in real-time on a computer, the identity data comprising a customer address; parsing the customer address to postal standards with a computer processor and comparing the customer address against a Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) to determine whether the customer address is a structurally viable and an existing address, retrieving a GPS code associated with the customer address from a GPS/address database, determining the names of retail, commercial, or government buildings and establishments near the GPS code which represent potential answers, and generating at least one question based on the potential answers in real time; presenting the question to the customer and obtaining an answer from the customer; and verifying the identity of the customer based on whether the customer address exists in the CASS and whether the customer's answer matches at least one of the potential answers, whereby detecting the presence of identity theft and reducing the likelihood of identity theft in the transaction.