JK Du Toit, TGPDC founder and CEO.

The South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) and software firm the Good People Data Company (TGPDC) have partnered to fight money laundering, fraud and impersonation crimes in the country.

The two will collaborate using multiple technology solutions in tackling these challenges, with the support of the SAFPS member base.

SAFPS is a non-profit organisation preventing fraud as a result of identity theft and impersonation, and it plays a critical role in identifying and reducing the impact of fraud in the country.

Correspondingly, TGPDC is a software company and a reseller credit bureau, which has developed three products focused on digital verification, proptech (tenant management), and forensics (anti-money laundering, fraud and collusion).

TGPDC is also part of the Empire Partner Foundation tech hub, which promotes the use of technology in solving societal challenges, including crime.

The TGPDC and SAFPS partnership comes as the country has been greylisted by the international Financial Action Task Force, due to a rise in money laundering, fraud and impersonation crimes.

Money-laundering, fraud and collusion cost the South African economy billions, with estimates ranging from R500 million to R5.4 billion per annum, according to various organisations including the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, the South African Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, and the South African Reserve Bank.

In an interview with ITWeb Africa, JK Du Toit, TGPDC founder and CEO, says the alliance with SAFPS is ‘necessary and urgent’ as the entities have the expertise to fend off these crimes.

“We decided to throw our names in the hat to assist with addressing these issues. The relationship is crucial for the wider South African economy,” he says.

Du Toit says the greylisting is due to deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures, there is need to combine efforts and restore the country’s standing.

He explains: “This greylisting means that South Africa is now considered a ‘high-risk’ country for money laundering and terrorist financing, and the impact of this is significant with potential restrictions on international trade and financial transactions, increased scrutiny from international markets and significant damage to South Africa's reputation.”

He adds: “Our partnership is not only important to our respective businesses, but also to the wider South African economy, as we work together to combat the impact of the Greylisting and prevent further damage to our country's reputation.”

In terms of the partnership, TGPDC will use its digital solutions to assist SAFPS in combating money laundering, fraud and impersonation.

Du Toit explains: “Our software has two key impact areas: it significantly reduces the time required to investigate fraud and improves the accuracy of the results.

“It also provides data and insights that were previously unavailable to markets and corporations and creates data maps cross-entity, cross-industry and links into a range of databases within our data lakes.

“Our technology also allows investigation teams to cover more ground, more accurately, with proper risk weightings, in record time. We plan to track the delta in fraud cases reported each month and quarter, as well as changes in the types of fraud being perpetrated.

“By monitoring these deltas, our teams will be able to identify trends and patterns in fraudulent activity, and adjust prevention strategies accordingly.”

He continues: “Beyond the tech, our partnership with the Empire Partner Foundation's Innovation Campus has enabled us to develop a young and highly skilled team of robust developers that bolster our team of highly skilled technology professionals and for the youngsters to grow. I believe that we are in a good position to accelerate the fight against unwanted financial activity in partnership with SAFPS and industry.”

Manie van Schalkwyk, CEO, SAFPS, comments: “The new partnership will assist not only the SAFPS database, but our members will benefit with additional tools in the fight against financial crime.

“We are looking forward to a long mutually beneficial relationship in serving our current members and expanding horizons to new markets together.”