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Yorkshire entrepreneur’s fraud prevention system poised for global roll out

A fraud prevention system developed by a Yorkshire entrepreneur after one of his businesses fell victim to telephone fraud could significantly reduce the UK’s £350m p.a. remote purchase fraud.

The innovative Secure Order Transfer (SOT) system was created by Jason Mace, founder and managing director of marquee and gazebo manufacturer Gala Tent.

Now, two major global credit card providers have expressed interest in the system, which has prevented 100% of fraudulent telephone transactions in Mace’s business since implementation in 2012.

The system was built after one of Mace’s businesses became a victim of telephone fraud through a third party ordering system. Unable to find an off the shelf solution, he set about creating his own system.

The SOT system works by connecting the telephone order with an online secure transaction system where the customer manually inputs their details instead of giving them over the phone.

The result is more rigorous checks on the card and customer details, putting customers at much lower risk of their cards being used fraudulently.

After proving how successful the SOT system is within his own business, Mace now has plans to roll it out further to prevent fraud via telephone transactions on a national and potentially global scale.

Mace explains: “The SOT system was developed really out of necessity for my own needs but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that this system needs to be implemented across the UK. 70% of Gala Tent’s transactions are over the phone, much like many SMEs in the UK.

“Not only does it have a faultless track record in preventing telephone fraud, it also saves users money.

“Bank charges for telephone transactions are high and growing but the SOT system’s 3D secure technology effectively enables telephone transactions to be carried out online, which is much cheaper. Bad news for the banks but huge benefit to any company dealing with a high number of telephone transactions.

“We’ve already got the attention of some of the biggest players in the security sector and we were named Security Innovation of the Year at last year’s UK IT Industry Awards.

“It’s clear we’ve hit on something special with the SOT system. And as Gala Tent isn’t a specialist IT company, I’m eager to work with partners who have the necessary skills and experience to develop the product further and ensure it reaches everyone who has a need for this technology.”