Project DoorStop reaches its next phase

Facilitated by the EIC, Northern Gas Network (NGN)’s Project DoorStop has reached a new milestone. Designed to protect UK customers from doorstep fraud, the project’s technology is now nearing deployment stage.

Doorstep fraud is a problem many currently face in the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are between 5,000 and 8,000 reports of doorstep crime per year in the UK. 

Project DoorStop was developed with the aim of verifying the identity of engineers visiting a customer’s home, to protect UK customers from doorstep fraud. 

The project’s method for verifying doorstop visitors became a webpage which generates a unique code for the engineer; the customer enters this into the website themselves for confirmation of the engineer’s legitimacy. 

Created with accessibility in mind, the system was designed to be fast and easy-to-use, for any customer with a smart device and internet connection, with no prior registration or set up required.

The project was trialled in the field by NGN engineers and customers, with positive feedback from both parties. 

The technology is now almost fully developed, ready for deployment by Network partners and the wider industry in early 2022.