Patent ID: 8918904

Claim:
A system, comprising: a hosting device; a user interaction engine, which in operation, enables a user to submit a request for a transaction; a social network information collection engine, which in operation, collects available social network information of the user from one or more social networks; a user identity validation engine, which in operation, utilizes and analyses relationships and connections among nodes in one or more social graphs of the user for identity verification and risk analysis of the user, wherein each of the social graphs is an interconnected web of relationships of the user with respect to one user on one of the social networks; estimates a risk score of the transaction based on a pattern of distribution of online posts and shared contents by a particular identity of the user over time on one of the social networks, wherein uneven distribution and gaps in the pattern of distribution of the online posts and shared contents by the particular identity of the user over time on the social network indicate identity fraud by the user; allows the transaction to proceed, be denied, or remain queued based upon the estimated risk score; processes the transaction if it is allowed to proceed.