Synergy1 is an integration partner of Horizontech. Bob Hedstrom is their Director of Sales, Marketing and Product Development.

Address Fraud is a form of fraud whereby someone uses a fictitious address or an inaccurate address for monetary gain or other personal benefit. A fictitious address is a location that does not exist. An inaccurate address could be, as example, a former address that was never updated, or an acquaintance’s or a relative’s address. The crime may involve stating one’s address as a place where he/she never lived, or continuing to use a previous address where one no longer lives as one’s own. For identity theft, we’ve seen instances where the criminal patient use a bogus name and address to avoid paying for their healthcare visit. They stole the identity of someone else in town, and are using that identity and address when giving personal information during admissions. The bill is then sent by mail to the incorrect patient, and/or is returned as undeliverable because the address and name do not exist.

You never moved, but your mail did . . . as reported by KHOU11 News
Some thieves may divert your billing statements to a different location by completing a USPS® “change of address” form for you. Therefore, instead of you receiving documents at your residence containing your private information, a complete stranger now obtains this information and can steal your identity. Criminals may also commit fraud by using one’s old address as a current address to receive mail. It is committed by deliberately failing to report an address change and using the old address on legal documents. Another involves the representation of a communal mail box as one’s own address where one resides in order to take advantage of benefits available to those residing in its location.

Another common example of committing address fraud is opening a bank account or credit account using a false or stolen address. Someone might submit a credit application containing another person’s address or a fictitious address. Another regular practice is to steal documents with personal information and portray the identity as one’s own when seeking credit approval. Once approved, the perpetrator can incur debt in another person’s name and not have to pay the charges.

School enrollment is also subject to address fraud. Many parents or guardians claim addresses in public school districts where they do not live in order for their children to attend certain schools. Phony businesses often use false addresses or commit other forms of fraud as well. Many of them change locations frequently, which is not necessarily fraud by itself. They might, however, also use a false location as a “warehouse” or portray a residential address as a business location by using a mail drop instead of a post office box number.

Some drivers commit forms of address fraud in order to take advantage of lenient laws in jurisdiction where they do not really live. For example, one may not qualify for a driver’s license in his/her own state, but may qualify in another. Many people claim or create addresses in states with more lenient regulations in order to avoid the costs of maintaining insurance. Political motivations can encourage address fraud as well. In such cases, voters cast their votes in precincts, where they do not live. Frequently, criminals commit address fraud simply to hide their whereabouts from law enforcement officials.

Some wealthy people will set up their official address at a low rent location in a low tax jurisdiction to avoid paying taxes at a higher rate in the jurisdiction where they actually live.

FraudLink was developed by Horizontech as a secure answer to known issues with Change of Address theft and fraud. As there can be errors and fraud associated with USPS® change of address data, credit bureaus and data compilers, Horizontech automatically identifies, flags and reports these issues from inbound undeliverable mail as potential fraud. FraudLink is just one innovation from Horizontech to help our customers automate and better manage issues with undeliverable mail. We’ve been able to build a secure net around an issue that is apparent within all industries where consumer and business information have the propensity for data issues, errors and fraud.
Want to talk with us Live? You can schedule a Meeting directly with us to learn more about how FraudLink can help you mitigate Fraud.
Bruce Heverly CEO, Synergy1, bheverly@synergy1corp.com, 775-846-1729

In 2012, the USPS spent $1.318 Billion managing Undeliverable As Addressed mail (UAA), with no payback. As the USPS has put tighter controls and automation in place to reduce its dependency on manual and outdated processes, it has also begun the implementation process of UAA regulations which emphasizes more and more burden on mailers to comply. The start of this transition happened 8/2008 with CASS Cycle L / Delivery Point Validation (DPV) which is now required for all mailers that wish to receive postal automation discounts. National Change of Address (NCOA™) requirements shifted in 2009 that require all mailers for transactional First Class as well Direct Mail to prove Move Update compliance by processing such records every 95 days through NCOA™.

This is only the start of the overall process with regards to the USPS and charges to mailers for non-compliance. They have discussed surcharges for every US Company for every piece of returned mail, as most mailers (majority) are not taking a serious approach to this consistent and growing issue. It currently costs the USPS $.98 to treat each undeliverable mail piece. Most First Class mailers pay .37-.42 on average to the USPS to attempt to deliver their mail; this is a losing proposition for the USPS.

The problem takes a back seat to ongoing priorities within companies, yet is 100% attributable to direct cash flow from both consumer and business spending for Billing that is undeliverable as addressed. It is actually a moving target that can have tremendous financial, operational and customer service improvements if taken seriously and made a priority.

Reasons for UAA can occur from the following:

6.7 Billion UAA Volume

75.8 % Move Related (Vacant, Address Unknown, Forwarding Service Expired)
5.2 % Missing/Incorrect Apt/Ste Numbers
0.1 % Missing/Incorrect Directionals
0.8 % Rural/Highway Contract Box Numbers
4.4 % Missing/Incorrect Street Name/Numbers
0.13 % Missing/Incorrect City/St/ZIP
13.6 % Other (Missing Recipient, Illegible Handwritten Address, Deceased, Unclaimed, No Mail Receptacle, USPS Automation Errors, USPS Carrier Errors)

The mobility of the American public and the resulting UAA volume creates formidable obstacles for business mailers. Most UAA mail is either First Class (58%) or Standard Mail (38%). Undeliverable-as addressed (UAA) mail is all mail that cannot be delivered to the person or business at the address specified.

UAA programs are divided into two categories: Move Update and Address Quality. The National Change of Address (NCOA™) consists of more than 115 million permanent change of address (COA) orders which cover 18-48 months of COA activity. The data is updated weekly. The FASTforward® database consists of 25 million permanent COA records reflecting the most recent 8 months of COA activity and is updated weekly.

Regarding Address Quality, there are many solutions that currently exist to reduce the overall volume of UAA mail. These solutions focus on address validation and standardization, including ZIP+4 coding, delivery point and carrier route validation, seasonal and vacant delivery. Most solutions focus on the validation of the physical address and not actual move information, as does NCOA™. These solutions are commercially available through service providers that license the databases from the USPS.

One of the largest issues for UAA mail is the impact that the mobile American public plays on mail deliverability. 44 million Americans move each year.

Of that 17% of all consumers move and 19.6% of businesses. The United States Postal Service provides both Move Update and Address Quality solutions, which we find takes care of a small percentage of the actual problem. In fact, current NCOA statistics prove that the current solution is not widely successful. Over 100 billion records are processed each year through FASTforward® and NCOA™, of which a best match rate of 4.1% against a 17% population move.

Of the moving public, we find that approximately 30%-50% of all movers actually complete a Change of Address Form; many simply forget to complete the Change of Address information either at the post office or online at www.usps.com. Therefore, companies must enlist resources and solutions to find the 50%-70% that have not notified anyone of their move. Most of these customers wish to receive their particular communication but forgot. There will be a percentage of the public which does not complete the Change of Address information purposely, to avoid making future payments.

Interested in learning how to automate your workflow and reduce on average 60% of your UAA and collect more of your money and assets?

Our Address Management, Standardization and Search platform, RMSLink, improves update rates 30-80% beyond required address quality and move update solutions such as CASS/ DPV, LACSLink, SUITELink and firms such as LexisNexis, at significant cost savings. We can reduce collections and operational expenses up to 70%, by automating many manual processes in today’s solution architecture, saving our clients on average $1,000,000 per year in operations expense and collection loss.