DURING THE PAST TWO years, data aggregators, credit card processors and consumer-facing firms have lost, compromised or sold to no-goodniks roughly 98 million private records, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
Direct marketers, the means to data security are in your sales files. I propose a new system that will bring direct response marketing front and center in the national information security discourse — and give your sales a jolt.
Imagine if, in addition to an unchanging code such as the Social Security number, consumers were required to state the last purchase they made via direct response marketing. The credit-granting institution would then tap into two independent databases — one for Social Security numbers, the second a real-time log of all direct marketing purchases — to verify the information.
Picture an identity thief trying to establish a fraudulent credit card account. Sure, he might be able to come up with “567-68-0515” as the correct Social Security number. But what if the last purchase associated with that number was three pairs of gray herringbone cotton twill trousers, and the would-be thief stammered “a five-piece set of matching alligator-skin luggage”? Surely, then, the jig would be up!
Now imagine the loan officer, having sussed out a potential fraudster, reaching for the phone to alert the proper authorities while simultaneously thinking, “Hmm, I wonder if alligator luggage would go with those iguana hiking boots I ordered last week?”
In an ironic twist, the more attempts at identity fraud that are made, and thus the more incorrect last purchases guessed, the greater the number of direct marketing products that would receive word-of-mouth advertising. The incremental revenue this additional promotional channel would generate should fund the maintenance of the direct marketing database.
Changing one's personal code would be as easy as buying one's daily cup of coffee. Consumers who aren't quite sure what their last purchase was would order, say, a venti caramel macchiato (or whatever their usual beverage is) via their mobile device. The transaction would immediately be recorded in the central database, and consumers would get both a treat and the peace of mind that comes with securing one's personal accounts.
Concerned consumers would increase their coffee consumption in an effort to stymie identity thieves…but the caffeine would feed into their paranoia and insomnia. Doubtless many would combat their sleeplessness by surfing the Internet at 4 a.m., making purchases and further ensuring their economic security — and our industry's fortunes. An entire nation of coffee-infused Internet shoppers would certainly give new meaning to the phrase “Wired generation.”
But these are picayune points in light of the greater good this system offers. It's time to be part of the solution. The American people, the coffee baristas' union and your revenue lines need you. Can you say “no” to any of these and still look at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
