Patent ID: 7455230

Claim:
In a system that promotes loss prevention at a transaction point by reducing fraudulent transactions relating to items for sale or return, a method comprising: receiving, from a user, a first identifier and a second identifier each indicative of an item for sale or return at the transaction point as a part of a customer transaction; looking up the first identifier in a database that includes a plurality of records, each said record corresponding to a suspect or counterfeit item for sale or return; if the first identifier does not correspond to a record present in the database, allowing the transaction; if the first identifier corresponds to a record present in the database and the second identifier corresponds with an entry in the record associated with the first identifier present in the database, allowing the transaction; and if the first identifier corresponds to a record present in the database and the second identifier does not correspond with an entry in the record associated with the first identifier present in the database, denying the transaction.