Age verification
Identify minors & ensure a risk-free digital environment
Prevent underage access to restricted resources and protect your company from non-compliance fines with Fully-Verified Age Verification tool.
Prevent underage access to restricted resources
Prevent the risk of underaged using IDs to access restricted content. Detect minors and protect your company while maintaining a risk-free enviornment.
Stay compliant
By effectively following KYC laws and regulations with Fully-Verifieds' age verification solution, you can avoid non-compliance fees and protect your company's reputation.
Prevent fraud
Use real-time identity verification to verify users with ID documents and live selfies to eliminate the possibility of financial fraud and money laundering.
What is age verification?
Confirming the date of birth (age verification) of a person can be the most significant step for certain industries and companies, whose services or products are age-restricted.
The shift to the digital world means more and more people undertake activities online, including minors. We have to be aware that the digital space is full of age-restricted products and services. Staying in compliance with regulations related to age-exclusive online platforms is a complex and pressing issue.
How Age Verification is done?
Online Age Verification is a process of checking one’s identity without face-to-face interactions. It’s based on remotely checking if the person is who they say they are and validating personal information provided by them. It is performed by cross-checking the date of birth provided by a user with the provided identity document. The whole process is conducted online with the support of various automated systems such as AI, machine learning, and human intelligence. Also, it may include biometrics solutions such as face recognition software.
Components of Fully-Verifieds' age verification system
Online identity verification with an age check is the most secure and efficient way for age-exclusive businesses to combat the issues with underage access. It ensures being on top of compliance with different countries’ regulations. Nowadays, it is the only reliable method to verify age with certainty. Age verification systems criteria may vary depending on the nature of the industry and the country in which the business operates. However, the following steps are almost always necessary.
Submit Date of Birth
The end-user submits details, including name and date of birth, through an online form provided by the operator. Depending on the industry, some other personal information may be required.
Present Document
The user is then requested to show an identity document and submit it for verification. Depending on the verification method, the user may take a photo of the document or be guided by a verification specialist.
Extracting Identity Credentials
The age verification service extracts relevant details like the date of birth and name using optical character recognition (OCR) and performs document authenticity checks.
Verification and Dispatching Results
Once the verification of the details and document authenticity is completed, the age verification procedure is performed. The end-user is accepted or declined based on the provided age verification criteria.
Benefits of age verification systems
The Age verification system is crucial for online business in the context of compliance, brand reputation, cybersecurity, and financial prosperity. If overlooked, there may be consequences. To understand why specific rules regarding age-restricted areas are needed, it should be borne in mind that they have been created to protect children in the growing number of e-commerce businesses and entertainment platforms. A fast developing online world with its ease of use by mobile devices and young generations accustomed to enjoying it in full scope has some downsides. It is much easier to buy age-restricted goods such as alcohol and tobacco or encounter sexually explicit content in an online environment. That’s why age verification systems are vital in the online space, just like the need to show an identity document in the offline world.
Cybersecurity
There are two main reasons why it is easier for cybercriminals to use the personal information of underage people. First of all, it takes much more time to detect child identity theft. It may take many years to discover the crime, probably until a child becomes an adult and tries to use their personal data in any way. Secondly, children’s personal data is far more convenient for creating a synthetic identity and using it for criminal activities. The personal information of a child is a clean slate, and there is no financial footprint.
Brand reputation
The Age verification system is crucial for online business in the context of compliance, brand reputation, cybersecurity, and financial prosperity. If overlooked, there may be consequences. To understand why specific rules regarding age-restricted areas are needed, it should be borne in mind that they have been created to protect children in the growing number of e-commerce businesses and entertainment platforms. A fast developing online world with its ease of use by mobile devices and young generations accustomed to enjoying it in full scope has some downsides. It is much easier to buy age-restricted goods such as alcohol and tobacco or encounter sexually explicit content in an online environment. That’s why age verification systems are vital in the online space, just like the need to show an identity document in the offline world.
Finantial damage
Lack of a proper age verification systems may lead to financial damage in many ways. First of all, there are monetary fines and penalties due to non-compliance with regulations regarding access for minors. Fines are getting more severe, and law enforcement is more engaged. There is also a risk of mandatory suspension of license and impact on annual fees. Financial losses may be connected to online scams aimed at minors at age-restricted sites. As highlighted before, children are more vulnerable to identity theft, especially on platforms they are not allowed to be on. That is why age-restricted businesses are at financial risk when allowing access to underage users. There is also liability for “friendly fraud,” which is a chargeback from parents who claim that their child’s purchase was non-consenting. A reliable age verification service can cut down such financial losses for companies.
Main industries that need age verification services
Soon they will be necessary for many more. Keeping that in mind, businesses should be prepared to implement a proper age verification system.
The growing popularity of social media hasn’t stopped for years. They are still the most prominent online platforms for internet users, particularly minors. According to statistics, there were more than 4.62 billion social media users in January. It corresponds to 58.4% of the global population. Due to the nature of those platforms, it is impossible to control the inappropriate interactions between users. And in many cases, they can be harmful to minors.
Nowadays, the efforts to prevent underage users from signing up on social media and dating platforms are ineffective. Children can easily sidestep the procedures by simply lying about their date of birth. There is high pressure on the industry to tackle this issue. Also, the companies have acted on implementing new policies. For example, Meta has created new measures to protect underage users by changing their accounts into private mode by default. Moreover, they are working on developing an AI whose aim will be to remove minors’ accounts and new solutions to verify peoples’ age. Still, it is not enough, and some lawmakers point out that social media platforms have the resources to restrict access to age-exclusive content efficiently.
The online gambling industry is a high-income sector with popularity on the rise. According to statistics, the business will reach 92.2 billion dollars in 2023. It means that its value will almost double compared to the current size of 59 billion dollars. The market is associated with winning the effortless income for those who know the tricks. However, the gambling landscape is changing. Regulations around it have tightened, trust and security have been put into question, and last but not least social responsibility demands to protect children and teens. Both gambling and gaming have enormous addictive potential, particularly for young users.
The industry must acknowledge the thriving number of underage users captivated by both branches. Compliance with regulations and social responsibility need to be taken into account. Hence, an age verification service is firmly essential for the business.
The Internet offers a wide range of age-exclusive products that are physically delivered to clients and directly negatively impact children’s wellbeing. Marketplaces’ operators cannot rely on delivery services to check the age of customers and are legally obliged to verify ID if the customer is of age to order their products. Businesses selling tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis goods, face enormous fines, lawsuits, and damage to the brand in case of selling to minors. The whole industry needs to stay strictly in compliance with regulations to not cause any doubts about their place in online operations. Still, the e-cigarettes industry is not regulated enough to efficiently restrict buying options for underage clients. Regardless, it is a matter of time for legislation to catch up.
Fully-Verified was created as answer to its founders collectively losing over $150 000 to various types of fraud in their eCommerce businesses.
