Originally published in the Monitor, Nov/Dec 2006, Vol. 33, No. 10

By Ryan Earley

While technological advancements have created a conduit for high-speed fraud, Quiktrak offers a tool to discover fraud before it takes a toll on the on the leasing company’s bottom line. It’s called Multitrak.

Multritrak works by running each new order through Quiktrak’s extensive database of inspections to identify potential frauds. The program’s logic cross references the data input by clients against every inspection ever ordered from Quiktrak – a database of hundreds of thousands of inspections – to ensure clients receive the maximum reassurance that their lease has not been misrepresented.

A typical fraudulent applicant may submit simultaneous applications to a variety of funding sources. Simply searching for a security interest by title or UCC filing may not catch the fraud until after the fact. Multitrak’s logic also identifies cases where a lessee may be representing themselves as different businesses to different funding sources, or cases where a single cell phone is being used for purportedly distinct businesses at various locations.

By cross-referencing the numerous pieces of information provided by clients about their lease transactions, Multitrak was successful in identifying a fraud attempt. In this instance, a large lot of audio-visual equipment was purchased from a vendor. Several months later, the identical equipment was purchased with the vendor’s name and purchaser’s name reversed. The vendor and lessee had colluded to obtain double funding on the equipment. But with Multitrak’s assistance, the leasing company was able to stop the transaction prior to funding.

Recently, Multitrak identified that a vendor had provided two identical invoices for equipment shipped to different locations owned by the same lessee. In this case, the same serial number was erroneously recorded on both invoices by the vendor. Two separate items, one with a discrepant serial number, were actually provides to the customer. While not an instance of fraud, the incorrectly reported serial numbers can render equipment difficult to recover in the event of a default.

Another successful Multitrak example saw a pre-funding inspection ordered on a copy machine followed by a collection inspection on the same unitordered the very next day by a different client. In circumstances such as these, Quiktrak will contact both clients to make them aware of the potential problem and, if both parties grant permission, Quiktrak will put the parties in contact with each other to resolve the situation.

In the near future, Quiktrak will leverage its network of PDA-equipped inspectors and its SQL database to expand Multitrak’s capabilities. Along with a new and improved method of entry for the standard lease inspection, software for the PDA will allow Mutlitrak to cross reference individual pieces of equipment by serial number in order to track a unit throughout its operational life.