Patent Issued for Fraud-detection based on geolocation data (USPTO 11012861)

2021 JUN 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventor Lippert, Keith Alan (Belfast, IE), filed on January 9, 2020, was published online on May 18, 2021.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11012861, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Detecting and preventing financial fraud in insurance and/or financial institutions has become a priority, especially with a rise in online transactions. Generally, financial fraud may lead to loss of wealth, personal or private information, data, and so forth. Many such activities may comprise accessing a person’s financial account to misappropriate funds and/or personal information. When such fraudulent activities are undetected and/or not mitigated, businesses may incur increased losses, including, but not limited to, an erosion of a customer base.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure address one or more of the issues mentioned above by disclosing methods, computer readable storage media, software, systems, and apparatuses for fraud detection based on geolocation data. In particular, based on driving data, ranges of time may be determined when a driver of a vehicle has a low likelihood of accessing a web resource over a network. Accordingly, when an online activity is detected during such ranges of time, it may be an unauthorized activity.

“In some aspects, a time range determination system may include at least one processor and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions. In some embodiments, the computer-executable instructions may be stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media. The time range determination system may be configured to, in operation, retrieve, by a computing device at a vehicle, driving data. The time range determination system may, in operation, determine, based on the driving data, a range of time when a driver of the vehicle has a low likelihood of accessing a web resource over a network. The time range determination system may, in operation, detect an online activity for an account associated with the driver. The time range determination system may, in operation, compare a time of the online activity to the range of time. The time range determination system may, in operation, based upon a determination that the time of the online activity is within the range of time, identify a potentially unauthorized activity. The time range determination system may be configured to, in operation, trigger, in response to the potentially unauthorized activity, one or more steps to protect the driver from the potentially unauthorized activity.

“In other aspects, the time range determination system may also be configured to, in operation, associate, by the computing device and with the range of time, a confidence level indicative of a strength of determining the range of time, and where the identifying the potentially unauthorized activity may be based on the confidence level. In some aspects, the time range determination system may, in operation, base the confidence level on the driving data.

“In some aspects, the time range determination system may, in operation, determine, based on the driving data, a first geographical region in which the vehicle is located and determine, based on the first geographical region, a first range of IP addresses. In some aspects, the time range determination system may, in operation, identify, based on the online activity, a second range of IP addresses, and where the triggering of the one or more steps to protect the driver from the potentially unauthorized activity may be based upon a determination that the first range of IP addresses does not overlap the second range of IP addresses.

“In other aspects, the driving data may include one or more of geo-location data, an IP address of the computing device in the vehicle, data indicative of whether the computing device is in possession of the driver or a passenger of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, acceleration data associated with the vehicle, and/or biometric data associated with the driver or the passenger.

“In other aspects, the one or more steps may include sending an alert notification to the driver.

“In other aspects, the one or more steps may include preventing the potentially unauthorized activity.

“In other aspects, the one or more steps may include providing, to a third party, the range of time as a verification service for online activities.

“Methods and systems of the above-referenced embodiments may also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard, other embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. The details of these and other embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: retrieving, from a computing device at a vehicle, driving data; determining, based on the driving data, a range of time when a driver of the vehicle has a low likelihood of accessing a web resource over a network; detecting an online activity for an account associated with the driver; comparing a time of the online activity to the range of time; based upon a determination that the time of the online activity is within the range of time, identifying a potentially unauthorized activity; and triggering, in response to the potentially unauthorized activity, one or more steps to protect the driver from the potentially unauthorized activity.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: associating, by the computing device and with the range of time, a confidence level indicative of a strength of determining the range of time, and wherein the identifying is based on the confidence level.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein the confidence level is based on the driving data.

“4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the driving data, a first geographical region in which the vehicle is located; determining, based on the first geographical region, a first range of IP addresses; and identifying, based on the online activity, a second range of IP addresses, wherein the triggering is based upon a determination that the first range of IP addresses does not overlap the second range of IP addresses.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving data comprises one or more of geo-location data, an IP address of the computing device in the vehicle, data indicative of whether the computing device is in possession of the driver or a passenger of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, acceleration data associated with the vehicle, and biometric data associated with the driver or the passenger.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more steps comprise sending an alert notification to the driver.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more steps comprise preventing the potentially unauthorized activity.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more steps comprise providing, to a third party, the range of time as a verification service for online activities.

“9. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: retrieve, from a computing device at a vehicle, driving data; determine, based on the driving data, one or more ranges of time when a driver of the vehicle has a low likelihood of accessing a web resource over a network; detect an online activity for an account associated with the driver; compare a time of the online activity to the one or more ranges of time; based upon a determination that the time of the online activity is within the one or more ranges of time, identify a potentially unauthorized activity associated with the account; and trigger, in response to the potentially unauthorized activity, one or more steps to protect the driver from the potentially unauthorized activity.

“10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: associate, by the computing device and with at least one range of time of the one or more ranges of time, a confidence level indicative of a strength of determining the at least one range of time, wherein the identifying is based on the confidence level.

“11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the confidence level is based on the driving data.

“12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: determine, based on the driving data, a first geographical region in which the vehicle is located; determine, based on the first geographical region, a first range of IP addresses; and identify, based on the online activity, a second range of IP addresses, wherein the triggering is based upon a determination that the first range of IP addresses does not overlap the second range of IP addresses.

“13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the driving data comprises one or more of geo-location data, an IP address of the computing device in the vehicle, data indicative of whether the computing device is in possession of the driver or a passenger of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, acceleration data associated with the vehicle, and biometric data associated with the driver or the passenger.

“14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more steps comprise sending an alert notification to the driver.

“15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more steps comprise preventing the potentially unauthorized activity.

“16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more steps comprise providing, to a third party, the one or more ranges of time as a verification service for online activities.

“17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to: determine, based on driving data retrieved from a vehicle, a range of time when a driver of the vehicle has a low likelihood of accessing a web resource over a network; detect an online activity for an account associated with the driver; compare a time of the online activity to the range of time; based on the comparing and upon a determination that the time of the online activity is within the range of time, identify a potentially unauthorized activity; and send, based on the identifying, a notification to the driver, wherein the notification alerts the driver to the potentially unauthorized activity.

“18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, storing further instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to: associate, by the computing device and with the range of time, a confidence level indicative of a strength of determining the range of time, wherein the identifying is based on the confidence level.

“19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, storing further instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to: determine, based on the driving data, a first geographical region in which the vehicle is located; determine, based on the first geographical region, a first range of IP addresses; and identify, based on the online activity, a second range of IP addresses, wherein the sending is based upon a determination that the first range of IP addresses does not overlap the second range of IP addresses.

“20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the driving data comprises one or more of geo-location data, an IP address of the computing device in the vehicle, data indicative of whether the computing device is in possession of the driver or a passenger of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, acceleration data associated with the vehicle, and biometric data associated with the driver or the passenger.”

For more information, see this patent: Lippert, Keith Alan. Fraud-detection based on geolocation data. U.S. Patent Number 11012861, filed January 9, 2020, and published online on May 18, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11012861.PN.&OS=PN/11012861RS=PN/11012861

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