System and method for electronic lead verification
A system and a method provide a lead verification service. A lead generator contacts a verification server when a visitor lands on a hosting site of the lead generator to enter lead information into a form. The verification server issues a reference key (token) to the lead generator and collects information about the visitor and the hosting site of the lead generator, using the reference key to identify the collected information. When the visitor submits the form, the lead generator sends the form data, which includes the entered lead information and the reference key received from the verification server, to at least one interested party. When the verification server receives a request for the collected information from the interested party, the collected information is retrieved based on the reference key included in the request and sent to the requesting interested party.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a first request at a lead verification server from a web browser in response to the web browser visiting a web page of a lead generating website and executing a lead verification service script, the lead generating website configured to collect lead data for a lead generator;
responding to the first request at the lead verification server by sending a reference key to the web browser;
collecting information about the lead generating website and information associated with a user of the web browser;
associating the collected information with the reference key;
receiving, from an interested third party that is separate from the lead generating website and the lead generator after the interested third party receives the lead data and the reference key from the lead generator, a second request for verification of the lead data, the second request including the reference key; and
in response to the second request, sending at least some of the collected information to the interested third party.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collected information comprises a copy of a complete HyperText Markup Language (HTML) of the web page.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending verification data to the web browser along with the reference key;
receiving a third request at the lead verification server from the web browser, the third request containing the reference key and additional data that is generated based on the verification data; and
attempting to verify an integrity of the third request by evaluating whether the additional data matches expected data.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
the verification data comprises a second script to be executed by the web browser, and
attempting to verify the integrity of the third request includes whether a value generated using the second script executed by the web browser and included in the third request matches an expected value.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
recording a suspicion along with the collected information when the integrity of the third request cannot be verified.
6. An apparatus comprising:
at least one communication interface configured to send and receive information;
at least one memory configured to store instructions; and
at least one processing device configured to execute the instructions stored in the at least one memory, the instructions when executed configured to cause the at least one processing device to:
receive a first request from a web browser in response to the web browser visiting a web page of a lead generating website configured to collect lead data for a lead generator and executing a lead verification service script;
respond to the first request by sending a reference key to the web browser;
collect information about the lead generating website and information associated with a user of the web browser;
associate the collected information with the reference key;
receive, from an interested third party that is separate from the lead generating website and the lead generator after the interested third party receives the lead data and the reference key from the lead generator, a second request for verification of the lead data, the second request including the reference key; and
in response to the second request, send at least some of the collected information to the interested third party.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the collected information comprises a copy of a complete HyperText Markup Language (HTML) of the web page.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions when executed are further configured to cause the at least one processing device to:
send verification data to the web browser along with the reference key;
receive a third request from the web browser, the third request containing the reference key and additional data that is generated based on the verification data; and
attempt to verify an integrity of the third request by evaluating whether the additional data matches expected data.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:
the verification data comprises a second script to be executed by the web browser, and
the instructions that when executed are configured to cause the at least one processing device to attempt to verify the integrity of the third request comprise:
instructions that when executed are configured to determine whether a value generated using the second script executed by the web browser and included in the third request matches an expected value.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the instructions when executed are further configured to cause the at least one processing device to:
record a suspicion along with the collected information when the integrity of the third request cannot be verified.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collected information comprises a screenshot of the web page or a form being submitted by the user of the web browser.
12. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the collected information comprises a screenshot of the web page or a form being submitted by the user of the web browser.
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying instructions that when executed cause at least one processing device to:
receive a first request from a web browser in response to the web browser visiting a web page of a lead generating website configured to collect lead data for a lead generator and executing a lead verification service script;
respond to the first request by sending a reference key to the web browser;
collect information about the lead generating website and information associated with a user of the web browser;
associate the collected information with the reference key;
receive, from an interested third party that is separate from the lead generating website and the lead generator after the interested third party receives the lead data and the reference key from the lead generator, a second request for verification of the lead data, the second request including the reference key; and
in response to the second request, send at least some of the collected information to the interested third party.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the collected information comprises a copy of a complete HyperText Markup Language (HTML) of the web page.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions that when executed cause the at least one processing device to:
send verification data to the web browser along with the reference key;
receive a third request from the web browser, the third request containing the reference key and additional data that is generated based on the verification data; and
attempt to verify an integrity of the third request by evaluating whether the additional data matches expected data.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:
the verification data comprises a second script to be executed by the web browser; and
the instructions that when executed cause the at least one processing device to attempt to verify the integrity of the third request comprise:
instructions that when executed cause the at least one processing device to determine whether a value generated using the second script executed by the web browser and included in the third request matches an expected value.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that when executed cause the at least one processing device to:
record a suspicion along with the collected information when the integrity of the third request cannot be verified.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the collected information comprises a screenshot of the web page or a form being submitted by the user of the web browser.
19. An apparatus comprising:
at least one memory configured to store instructions; and
at least one processing device configured to execute the instructions stored in the at least one memory, the instructions configured when executed to cause the at least one processing device to:
provide a unique identifier to a web browser in response to the web browser accessing a hosting web page and executing a lead verification service script;
receive from the web browser lead information that comprises:
a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the hosting web page or a form presented on the hosting web page;
a timestamp associated with the web browser accessing the hosting web page;
a network address associated with the web browser; and
a screenshot of at least one of the hosting web page or the form;
associate the unique identifier and the received lead information to create a certificate; and
provide the certificate to a requestor in response to a request from the requestor to verify an authenticity of the lead information after the requestor receives the lead information and the unique identifier, wherein the request includes the lead information and the unique identifier.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the certificate lacks personally identifiable information about a user of the web browser in the URL or the screenshot.