Data breaches, identity theft, and identity hijacking on the rise have led to the need for businesses to carry out identity document verification.
Verification like Biometric verification, facial recognition, and digital ID verification can help companies, governments, and financial institutions verify a person’s online identity.
With digital identity documents, the identity verification process, such as scanning passports at airports with electronic gates can happen with ease.
Running a business requires digital identity verification for the client and business owner. Once identity has been confirmed, businesses may conduct background checks to ensure that the client is not a scammer, criminal, bad actor, or attempting to commit a scam.
How does the verification of identity work?
Digital identity verification methods compare what a person has (for example, biometric data or an identity document) with a verified set of data (for example, data held by government agencies, such as passport data, or biometric data held on the user’s registered mobile phone).
A digital identity check compares submitted data to a validated data set to determine whether the
person is who they claim to be.
There are numerous digital identity verification methods that each work uniquely.
- But we will only discuss 3 digital identity documents you can use to verify your customers.
Driver’s license: If you're onboarding a client, you can have them submit their driver's license to
cross-check it with software to determine who they are and who they say they are. - Passport: A passport is another identity document that you can use to verify your customers
before carrying out any transaction with them - Government ID: A government ID is your national identity card. Businesses can run a government
ID against various fraud detection and prevention software to ensure that dealing with a specific
the client would not lead to sanctions/fines.
How to carry out identity document verification?
- Identity document verification is critical in the process of onboarding clients.
- Document verification is a digital verification method used to validate the authenticity of an applicant’s identity document (for example, a passport, identity card, driver's license, etc.).
- The goal is to collect, extract, and analyse identity data to validate the legitimacy of government-issued identification documents—this aids in distinguishing between the genuine and the fraudulent.
Identity documents can be verified in real-time and within seconds using automated identity document verification.
The technology captures an image of the applicant's identity document using the built-in camera on a mobile or portable device. The image is then analysed using artificial intelligence and advanced authentication algorithms to determine whether the ID is genuine or fake.
There are other ways you can verify a customer; they include:
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR is a technology that automates the process of extracting information from documents. Thus, in addition to streamlining the user registration process, OCR reduces filling errors by eliminating the need to enter information manually. It is important to remember that, despite its function of optimising onboarding and reducing customer failures, this solution is insufficient to
validate the document.
Other checks will need to be carried out, such as document copying and background checks, which are required to complete the method.
Biometrics.
Biometrics is another way that business owners can verify identity. The Biometrics software can map the user’s facial features from the image and store it as if it were a facial impression. The real image of the person is compared with the stored digital image using algorithms to ensure facial recognition and prove identity.
Conclusion
Identity documents are a requirement when vetting customers, so it's important to make provisions for customers to be able to upload any of the above 3 identity documents.
