What is CIFAS?

CIFAS is a not for profit membership association dedicated to the prevention of financial crime and staff fraud. CIFAS provides a range of fraud prevention services to its Members, including a fraud avoidance system used by the UK's financial services companies and public authorities.

How does CIFAS work?

The CIFAS fraud avoidance systems allow Members to exchange details of applications for products, services or employment, which are considered to be fraudulent, because the information provided by the applicant fails verification checks. Members can also exchange information about accounts and services which are being fraudulently misused or fraudulent insurance and other claims. CIFAS Members also exchange information about innocent victims of fraud to protect them from further fraud. This exchange of information is referred to in a clause on application/proposal/claim forms/employment application (hereafter referred to as “application”) forms and/or contracts and agreements telling you how your data may be used. CIFAS information is not used to assess the individual’s ability to obtain an account, product, facility, insurance policy or employment. It is only used to prevent fraud. CIFAS is not a Credit Reference Agency.

Members of CIFAS are required to operate effective in-house procedures to enable fraud or attempted fraud to be identified and classified. Basic information on each case is filed on the CIFAS database. The information is then transferred electronically to a number of Participating Agencies (Callcredit, Equifax, Experian, Experian Decision Analytics and Synectics Solutions Ltd – please see below).

When an address against which a fraud has been filed is searched by any other Member, through any Participating Agency, the searching Member sees a CIFAS warning flag and is thus made aware of the need to investigate further. The Member is then required to conduct a full investigation into the case and not just decline the application or account/product/facility/insurance policy/employment, as it may be a genuine application rather than one submitted by a fraudster. This warning does not mean the address has been blacklisted. It means extra precautions should be taken to ensure the application or facility that has prompted the check of the address is genuine and this protects the address from further misuse.

For example, a typical illustration of how the system works would show that:

• At 9.30am Member A receives a proposal and identifies fraud - files name, address, classification, and other details on to the CIFAS database.
• By 10.30am Participating Agencies updated with details - CIFAS warning now "live" on all databases.
• At 11.00am Member B receives a proposal involving the same address, searches that address and 'matches' the Member A information.
• By 11.15am Member B seeks further details about the fraud filed by Member A. This involves further database checks and, on occasion, direct contact with Member A.
• By 11.30am Member B assesses the proposal. A thorough investigation is undertaken. As much of the information as possible is verified with third parties. If it is fraudulent, the Member categorises and re-files the name and address on the CIFAS database as a fresh fraud, but if it is not fraudulent, the normal account opening process continues.

We are committed to doing all we can to prevent financial crime and staff fraud. CIFAS helps to prevent thousands of frauds every month, and this helps to keep the price of goods and services down. CIFAS also prevents fraudsters obtaining employment within organisations.

How does CIFAS protect you?

CIFAS goes to great lengths to ensure that innocent victims of fraud are protected. Provided that their current address is known and the letter used will not alert the fraudster, in all impersonation cases, CIFAS Members are obliged to send a mandatory letter to the innocent victim advising of the CIFAS warning, and how it will prevent further impersonation activity.

A CIFAS warning against an innocent victim warns other CIFAS Members to carry out further checks which may include seeking confirmation of identity to confirm they are not dealing with the fraudster. While this may cause some inconvenience for the victim, it ensures that they do not find themselves being chased for money they do not owe.

How is CIFAS information used?

A CIFAS Member that receives a CIFAS warning from the system is not allowed automatically to refuse an application or to close a facility because of the warning. They are required to make further enquiries to confirm your personal identification details before making a decision. If they identify a fraud, they will normally not proceed with an application or may review a facility or employment. However, there are occasions when, even though a CIFAS warning is present and your personal identification details have been properly confirmed, your application will not be approved. This is because your application is still subject to the Member’s standard checks and decision-making policies and you may not meet them. You may ask the Member why they have declined your facility. The Member will normally be able to provide you with an explanation and provide you with details of any credit reference agencies or fraud prevention agencies they have used.

Who are the Fraud Prevention Agencies?

CIFAS members use one or more of the following fraud prevention agencies in the UK:

Experian Ltd: Consumer Help Service, PO Box 9000, Nottingham, NG80 7WP
Tel: 0844 481 8000  www.experian.co.uk

Equifax plc: Credit File Advice Centre, PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US
Tel: 0870 010 0583     www.equifax.co.uk

Callcredit Ltd: Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds, LS3 1WZ
Tel: 0870 060 1414 www.callcredit.co.uk

Experian Limited - Experian Decision Analytics: Seabank House, Wight Moss Way, Southport, PR8 4HQ
Tel: 01704 501 001 www.experian-da.com/web/solutions/fraud/intro.html

Synectics Solutions Ltd: Customer Helpdesk, Synectics House, The Brampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 0QY
Tel: 01782 664 000 www.synectics-solutions.com

What are your Rights?

Experian Ltd, Equifax plc and Callcredit Ltd are also credit reference agencies, who make available public information (e.g. Voters Roll, County Court Judgments), and payment history data to financial services organisations. They also make available any CIFAS records they hold. For a fee from £2.00 you can obtain a copy of your credit file with the information they hold on you that they provide to their clients. You should contact them at the relevant addresses shown above. If you believe any of the data is incorrect, the details you receive from the agencies will explain how you can set about having it corrected. You may also be able to add a note to your record, which could help you. Please note that Experian Limited - Experian Decision Analytics and Synectics Solutions Ltd are not credit reference agencies.

The Data Protection Act 1998 also gives you the right to request a copy of any information held about you by any organisation on computer or in some manual files. This costs more and the fee is £10.00. If you wish to request a copy of any data held about you by CIFAS, the address to write to is below. This will only include CIFAS data and not public information and payment history data.

The Compliance Officer
CIFAS
4th Floor Central House
14 Upper Woburn Place
London WC1H 0NN

You should write, providing your full name, full address, date of birth and 2 proofs of your identity, one from each of the two groups below. One must be an original document, not a copy. Original documents will be returned to you. It is recommended that you do not send your original passport or driving licence due to the risk of theft in transit – send a photocopy instead.

The £10 payment should be made by credit/debit card. Please provide the credit/debit card number, expiry date, 3 digit security number shown on the reverse of the card, name on the card and postcode for card holder. Alternatively you should send a £10 postal order or cheque made payable to ‘CIFAS’.

How do I complain about a CIFAS warning?

In the first instance you should write to the CIFAS member that placed the CIFAS warning on the fraud prevention agency file or who dealt with your application or facility. Their name is supplied as part of your credit file and they are responsible for its accuracy. CIFAS members operate their own internal complaints procedures and can either send you details of the procedure or advise you what to do.

If you and the CIFAS member are unable to reach an agreement on your complaint, you should request a letter from the CIFAS member confirming the complaint procedure is completed or exhausted. Sometimes this is known as a “Final Response Letter”. If you then decide you want to take your complaint further you may ask CIFAS to investigate your complaint. (CIFAS cannot become involved in a complaint until the ‘Final Response Letter’ has been issued.) CIFAS will contact the CIFAS member and review the details of your complaint. CIFAS does not have the power to recommend financial awards, but CIFAS will confirm whether the CIFAS member adhered to the correct procedures. For full details of the CIFAS complaints procedure please either click here to view the complaints page or write to CIFAS and request a copy of the complaints procedure at the above address.