Abstract: A method implements a customer recognition system. A request with an identifier of an unidentified user is received. Sparse data is generated from string information corresponding to the identifier. Preexisting identifiers are filtered to generate a list of candidate identifiers using the sparse data. The plurality of preexisting identifiers correspond to a plurality of preexisting users. A core identifier is selected by determining a match between the identifier and a preexisting identifier from the preexisting identifiers using distance information generated using the list of candidate identifiers. The core identifier is matched to the identifier using the match to identify the unidentified user as a preexisting user from the plurality of preexisting users.