OZtion extends online identity verification via Australia Post 100 point check

OZtion, Australia’s second largest online auction site (http://www.oztion.com.au), has today announced an expansion of their online identity verification program, which covers both people buying and selling products online at OZtion.

Philip Druce, Managing Director for OZtion commented, “Online scams and fraud are still a common problem faced by Australians when they are shopping online. The Federal Government offers software that is supposed to make the Internet safer for Australians, but it doesn’t stop you from being ripped off when buying products online. Many popular online sites make it easy for scammers to setup fake identities, and rip people off. The Australian Government should be doing more to stop scammers.”

In partnership with Australia Post, OZtion is now offering an optional 100 point identity verification service. The new service allows Australians shopping online to be confident that they are dealing with a legitimate person, rather than a scammer using a fake identity.

The new 100 point identity verification service is available to any OZtion user, and costs $20 inc GST. The identity check is carried out by Australia Post, and confirms the user’s date of birth, identity, current residential address, and signature. Once the identity check has been completed, a special icon is displayed next to the user details on to signify that the user has been verified by Australia Post.

In addition, OZtion is also introducing a new automated Phone Verification service for users that have a seller account. When a user activates the service, a phone call is immediately made to the user’s nominated Australian fixed line phone service. The automated service then provides the person with a unique single use password which must be entered to complete the process.

With more than 1.2 million Australian visitors in August 2007, OZtion now has 195,000 registered members. Membership at OZtion is free. Anybody can join and purchase products.

About OZtion:
OZtion is an Australian online auction and shopping site, based on unique Australian designed and developed technology. Based in Melbourne, OZtion has grown enormously to become the 2nd largest Australian online auction site. Visit http://www.oztion.com.au for more information.

Media Contact:
Sebastian Rice
Silverspan
+ 61 2 9959 1991