Configuring Cifas National Fraud Database

Updated 1 year ago by Ainsley

How it works
Configuration options
What we'll need
Testing your configuration
Required and optional profile fields
- Individual profiles
- Company profiles

Cifas is a data provider that offers the National Fraud Database, which you can use to run the Fraud check on individuals or companies in the UK.

How it works

This is the default behaviour for a variant of the Fraud check for individuals or companies with Cifas National Fraud Database.

The check is performed by searching the individual's details (name, and, if available, address, date of birth, national identity number, bank account, phone number, and email address) or company's details (company name, company number, and, if available, address, phone number, and email address) in the National Fraud Database.

The check result is Passed when no potential matches are found in the database.

The check result is Review when one or more potential matches are found.

An error is displayed when:

The individual or company doesn't have data for the required fields.
Your Cifas credentials are no longer valid.

To improve the accuracy of the results, provide the customer's middle name.

Configuration options

There are no configuration options for this check variant.

What we'll need

Let us know that you'd like to add a variant of the Fraud check with Cifas National Fraud Database.

Completing the configuration has three parts.

First, we'll need the following information from you so we can begin the configuration on our platform:

Member ID: This is your Cifas member number.
Product code: This is what you select from the Product drop-down in the Cifas portal (e.g. "Pers- All-In-One").

Next, Cifas needs to authorise the configuration and, if required, set up a new Cifas user account for PassFort:

We'll start the process by contacting Cifas with the information you provided above.
Cifas will then reach out to you for confirmation that you would like to use PassFort for your National Fraud Database checks. If you would like a separate user account for National Fraud Database searches via PassFort, Cifas will set it up at this time.
Cifas will contact us to confirm the configuration is authorised.

To complete the configuration, we'll need you to send us the username for the Cifas account you want to use for National Fraud Database searches.

Testing your configuration

Once the check variant is configured, follow these steps in your demo environment to test whether it's working as expected.

Does the check pass when there are no potential matches found for an individual in the Cifas National Fraud Database? Create any individual profile and run the check variant. If the check passes, it's working as expected.
Does the check return Review when one or more potential matches are found for an individual in the Cifas National Fraud Database? Create any individual profile with "refer" as part of the name (e.g. "Alex refer Wheeler") and run the check variant. If the check result is Review, it's working as expected.
Does the check pass when there are no potential matches found for a company in the Cifas National Fraud Database? Create any company profile and run the check variant. If the check passes, it's working as expected.
Does the check return Review when one or more potential matches are found for a company in the Cifas National Fraud Database? Create any company profile with "refer" as part of the name (e.g. "Aerial Traders refer") and run the check variant. If the check result is Review, it's working as expected.

To learn more about the request parameters and to get step-by-step instructions for running this check through the API, see Run a Fraud check.

Test words are not case sensitive.

Required and optional profile fields

Individual profiles

These are the individual profile details searched in the Cifas National Fraud Database:

Name	Description
First name(s) (`personal_details.name.given_names`) Required	The individual's first and, if applicable, middle names.
Surname (`personal_details.name.family_name`) Required	The individual's last name.
Date of birth (`personal_details.dob`) Optional	The individual's date of birth.
Addresses (`address_history`) Optional	The individual's address history.
National identity number (`personal_details.national_identity_number`) Optional	The individual's national identity number for their registered country.
Bank account (`banking_details.bank_accounts`) Optional	The individual's bank account details, including sort code and account number, country, and type.
Phone number (`contact_details.phone_number`) Optional	The individual's phone number. Cifas only supports phone numbers with 1-20 digits.
Email address (`contact_details.email`) Optional	The individual's email address.

Company profiles

These are the company profile details searched in the Cifas National Fraud Database:

Name	Description
Company name (`metadata.name`) Required	The legal name of the company.
Company number (`metadata.number`) Required	The company's registration number.
Addresses (`metadata.addresses`) Optional	The company's address history.
Phone number (`metadata.contact_details.phone_number`) Optional	The contact phone number for the company. Cifas only supports phone numbers with 1-20 digits.
Email address (`metadata.contact_details.email`) Optional	The contact email address for the company.

The company's country of incorporation (metadata.country_of_incorporation) is not sent to Cifas.