Identity verification is the process of validating one’s identity, ensuring that the person is who they claim to be. Traditionally, you would visit a bank or a post office, show your identity document and have an employee confirm it in person.
That era is long gone.
The digital age has raised identity verification to the next level. Now you have the chance to open a bank account at your fingertips without even leaving your house. All you need is a device with a camera and an identity document.
What is an identity verification service?
An identity verification service is a procedure for verifying someone’s identity created by a third-party company that can be purchased and implemented by other businesses. The process is usually based on various automated technologies and relies on diverse data sources. Depending on requirements, besides comparing a customer’s identity with the identity document they provide, that technology can also perform background checks (PEP and Sanctions screening, for example) and assess the risk of working with a potential client. But there’s so much more to it.
Why should you use an identity verification service?
There are many benefits to using an online identity verification service. Primarily, it shortens the procedure to just a few minutes and guarantees quick onboarding of new users. On top of that, it serves as a fraud prevention measure because having a strong identity verification service in place will often deter fraudsters from even trying to cheat it. Additionally, in most cases, your business is required to follow various compliance regulations. In that case, an identity verification conducted through online means is the fastest and most convenient way to ensure you meet even the most stringent KYC/AML compliance laws.
Naturally, the usage of identity verification services is most widespread in the financial sector – from online banks to cryptocurrency exchanges and everything in between. However, in pandemic times, where a large portion of our daily activities has moved to online spaces, other industries are increasingly adopting it as well.
Identity verification is essential for managing and protecting patient records as well as preventing health insurance fraud. A health care provider needs to know a patient’s identity to access their medical treatment history and make sure they are given proper care.
If an institution wants to offer distance learning in any form, they need digital identity verification to create a quick and hassle-free enrollment experience to accommodate students from all around the world. Confirming a student’s identity is also especially important in relation to online exams.
When it comes to the sharing economy, you not only have to consider verifying the identity of your customers but also the prospective providers alike. Depending on the platform and the industry it caters to, there are particular KYC and CDD requirements that companies need to follow when onboarding new users.
The travel industry used to almost solely rely on in-person interactions. Now, an online identity verification service is an essential part of making sure all travels go safely and smoothly. Booking and going on an overseas vacation without seeing your host face to face doesn’t surprise anybody. Some airlines even offer online check-ins to shorten the amount of time you have to spend at the airport.
Many telecom companies have started to offer remote onboarding for new prepaid SIM card users in order to speed up the process. Therefore, SIM swap scams and other types of fraud are an increasing concern for them.
European countries are progressively imposing more strict gambling laws. To comply with them, an online gaming operator has to confirm the player’s age before they are allowed to participate in the game.
Besides the finance sector, retail is probably the top industry exposed to online fraud. Identity theft and credit card fraud are a daily occurrence. In their battle against fraudsters, e-commerce predominantly uses two-factor account authentification, though that method can also be easily bypassed.
Implementing an online identity verification service is an obvious solution to all these concerns.
Key steps
The key steps in each identity verification process are as follows:
- The customer fills out a registration form on a company’s website; that data is then automatically sent to the verification provider.
- The customer then provides an appropriate identity document (such as a passport, an ID card, or a driving license).
- They will be asked to show the front side and the back side of the document (if it has one) and tilt it under different angles to check and ensure the correctness of its holographic security features. The document’s ownership and its validity are then confirmed by either a trained specialist, artificial intelligence, or a mixture of both (depending on the individual process).
- When the identity verification is completed, the customer returns to the company’s site, where they receive the verification status.
Key differences
Different identity verification service providers utilize various technologies to create their individualized procedures. They’re based primarily on biometric measurements and analyzing a person’s physical and behavioral characteristics. Among those technologies are, for instance, face recognition and artificial intelligence (AI), along with machine learning. Most companies also employ at least some level of human supervision to eliminate common fraud techniques, as purely automated processes can be easier to spoof than a hybrid of both. Varied data sources are also used to compare the documents with their government-issued templates.
What should you pay attention to
When considering identity verification providers for your own company, you should first and foremost evaluate your needs. What sort of data do you want to collect from your customers? Do you require any additional services – like PEP and Sanction checks or risk assessment and ongoing monitoring as part of Customer Due Diligence? Often this process can be customized and tailored to suit a particular client’s needs. Research the market and browse through different verification providers’ sites. Compare the solutions they offer, the databases and data sources they utilize, the supplementary services they provide, as well as the pricing. Many identity verification businesses present you with an opportunity to schedule demos where you can get an in-depth look into a particular company’s processes and answers to any questions you might have.
Identity verification services at Fully-Verified
Here at Fully-Verified, we offer two distinct solutions that merge artificial and human intelligence and can be further customized according to your specific needs and requirements.
- Self-verify – is an automated procedure where the user goes through the identity verification by themselves following a set of instructions displayed on the screen; the entire process is recorded and reviewed by a specialist.
- Live-verify – is a live video process where the user is guided through the identity verification steps by an operator.
Furthermore, you can choose between the Full-Service model and the SaaS model. In the former case, you leave everything to us and rely on our group of trained operators to perform identity verifications of your clients. In the latter, we provide you with the software, and you create your internal team responsible for the verifications directly in your company.
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Fully-Verified was created as answer to its founders collectively losing over $150 000 to various types of fraud in their eCommerce businesses.
