Patent US 6,715,672

A method and system for authorizing an electronic credit card transaction having enhanced measures for detecting fraudulent transactions. A user at a remote terminal attempting to conduct an electronic credit card transaction is prompted to input the user's name credit card information, address, and only a portion of the user's social security number. The information input by the user is retrieved and used for identification purposes. Initially, the input credit card information is submitted to an issuer of the user's credit card to determine whether the input credit card information is valid. A second independent database having a stored list of individuals is further accessed, wherein each of the individuals includes at least one associated address stored therewith. The addresses stored in association with an individual found to match the user input information are retrieved and compared with the user input address to determine if the input address corresponds to any of the retrieved stored addresses. If the input credit card information has been confirmed by the issuer as being valid and the address input by the user matches any of the retrieved addresses stored in the second independent database, the electronic credit card transaction is authorized and allowed to transpire.