192business.com, the leading identity verification supplier and SecureTrading, the UK's leading independent Internet Payment Service Provider have fused their solutions to provide an effective barrier against fraud.

With card fraud now estimated at £535 million (APACS statistics) and on the increase, companies need to ensure they are protecting their profits especially in such an economically unsound climate.

SecureTrading's Identity Check has integrated 192's identity verification databases to enable Internet-based merchants to better recognise and block attempted fraudulent transactions. SecureTrading Identity Check allows merchants to cross reference buyer information using a number of databases to verify if someone exists and lives at their given address.

By bringing together innovative payment services and 192business.com's fully integrated counter-fraud solutions, businesses can be confident that they are not only stopping fraudsters hitting their sites but also allowing their valuable customers to transact without losing them to the competition.

Ian Green, Director, 192business.com "we are very excited about this partnership and believe that by bringing together payment tools and identity verification we can get closer to that silver bullet to stop fraudsters in their tracks".

John Lyons, Chief Security Officer at SecureTrading said: "As an industry leader we must work closely with other industry leaders such as 192business.com to do everything possible to stamp out online fraud, ultimately reducing crime and increasing consumer confidence in online transactions. Our solution is the only fully integrated service available in the UK on a pay-as-you-use basis for all sizes of online merchant. Businesses can now benefit from being able to immediately check and verify customer identities and age from a review of transaction details, making it simpler and easier to prevent fraud than ever before."