Leading business identity company Middesk announced the introduction of Address Risk Insights, a critical new addition to its core Know Your Business (KYB) product Verify and its recently introduced risk scoring Signal product. A first for the KYB space, Address Risk Insights helps companies assess the risk of a businesses’ address during onboarding or ongoing monitoring, ensuring they approve only trusted and legitimate customers.
Nine out of 10 enterprises and small businesses deal with identity fraud in a given year according to a report from Sapio Research. Onboarding illegitimate businesses exposes financial institutions and other organizations to significant monetary loss, non-compliance fines, and the risk of fostering illicit or illegal activities. By flagging business addresses with known risk factors at the outset, Address Risk Insights strengthens onboarding processes, ensures compliance with Customer Identification Program (CIP) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements, and supports ongoing risk monitoring of customers over time.
“We’re proud to be launching Address Risk Insights at no additional cost, providing financial institutions and businesses with another powerful tool to reduce their exposure to risky entities,” said Kyle Mack, Co-founder and CEO of Middesk. “Our proprietary insights are unparalleled in quality and recency, enabling our customers to meet regulatory and compliance demands while staying one step ahead of fraudsters.”
Middesk’s Address Risk Insights leverages its extensive proprietary database of over 40,000 registered agents across the U.S., authoritative U.S. government business data, international address data, and high-quality alternative data. It flags fraudsters using addresses not physically linked to the business, such as registered agents and mail services, to appear legitimate and bypass onboarding checks.
Address Risk Insights swiftly evaluates an address’s risk level – low, moderate, or high – based on specific characteristics and attributes, using the following methods:
- Risk-Based Verification: Flags high-risk locations by assessing address validity, determining if the address is U.S.-based or international, and confirming deliverability to verify genuine U.S. business addresses.
- Registered Agent Detection: Uses Middesk’s extensive database of registered agents to identify addresses frequently linked to fraudulent activities.
- Mailbox Designations: Identifies high-risk addresses, such as private mailboxes, PO boxes, and other mail services, using postal service data.
- Location Frequency: Detects the number of businesses associated with a given address, helping uncover potential fraud risks.
Address Risk Insights is available now for existing Middesk customers. Register for the upcoming group demo on Tuesday, December 10th or read the announcement blog for more information.
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