Idtracker investigates identity theft
This Norwegian startup gets to the bottom of fraud and develops background check tools
Photo: Pixabay
How can you catch someone who’s stolen your identity? Idtracker’s Sindre Hagen found out the hard way, but his company is making it easier for people to get their lives back when it happens to them.
Tara Garcia
Nordic Startup Bits
Idtracker is a company that was born out of necessity. Sindre Hagen, CEO, had his identity stolen and the company came into being to get to the bottom of the case.
While trying to obtain further information on his case, Hagen noticed that he was not getting much assistance from the police. So he took matters in his own hands and through clever research was able to find the individual who had stolen his identity.
He then went back to the police, armed with this information. With it, the police were able to catch the culprit and the case was resolved.
Hagen didn’t stop there, though; he continued to look into and further develop the business idea behind Idtracker. In the process, Hagen went to private investigators and found that they had a lot of unsolved cases. This is where co-founder Hamza Muftic comes in. Muftic has a strong predilection for IT security and was studying nanoelectrics and robotics at the University of Oslo.
Investigating fraudulent cases
With their third partner, Oddleif Sveinungsen, Hagen and Muftic completed fraud and scam cases. And one-by-one they helped to get to the bottom of these cases. Through this process, they found they were investigating frauds quite a lot. This fact made the two founders sit back and think whether they could actually offer a widespread solution to help solve fraud cases.
They started to reach out to HR agencies as they thought the data they compiled could offer a widespread solution in developing tools for background checks. They will have this service available for companies to utilize during the hiring process. “We want to be the company that makes sure you employ the right person,” stated Muftic.
Bringing Idtracker to the world
One of the main challenges Idtracker has had to overcome is learning to work in different countries. One of the reasons is the presence of different laws and regulations that have to be followed.
In Norway, they are able to 100% verify individuals; in countries like the United States, however, no central databases exist that can be utilized to compile the data they require. This makes it difficult to aggregate data, stated Muftic. “Getting to know exactly what the customers truly want also represents a bit of a challenge,” added Muftic.
Muftic explained that Idtracker has a small group of early adopters and that Idtracker is focused on developing a product that really helps their consumer and helps Idtracker develop “something the consumer really wants.” They have since partnered with the Nordic company Relink Labs to spread their reach. With their software they can sieve through multiple sources of public data to compile the information critical to Idtracker. These sources tell companies whether or not a candidate is a good fit for their company.
Bringing transparency to their business
Muftic shared some final closing thoughts on how they structure the company and approach problems to find viable solutions: “In the beginning we were very tight-lipped and kind of ‘flying under the radar’ because we were a little afraid someone would try to steal our idea. But we’ve now employed a different approach. We feel that the more people you speak with, the more chances you have truly connecting with people from all over the world, and that can serve as a true asset.”
This article was originally published on Nordic Startup Bits at www.nordicstartupbits.com/2016/05/05/idtracker-gets-bottom-identity-theft/.
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 21, 2016, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
