StrikeForce Technologies Inc. of Edison, N.J., has started marketing the VerifyID automated authentication system, which quizzes customers on personal facts.
The system, which StrikeForce introduced Monday, draws its queries from public data and credit reports. For example, it might ask the color of a customer's car or the amount of a monthly loan payment.
Rob Sigal, the president of SolidPay.com Inc., a Canadian e-payments company that has been using VerifyID for seven months, said he had initially expected "people would get a little concerned - people would be hesitant to answer the questions and feel that we're being a little too intrusive."
Contrary to those worries, "people are actually very impressed with it - they feel a sense of security," Mr. Sigal said.
SolidPay uses the system to supplement software it developed in-house to determine the likelihood that a prospective customer is actually a con artist. If SolidPay's software is uncertain, the consumer is quizzed by the StrikeForce system.
Before SolidPay used the system, its employees would phone applicants if the processing company's software could not determine if they were legitimate.
