Learn how to use document verification as a layer in an identity-proofing strategy.
What is at risk when it comes to identity and document fraud?
As it happens, quite a bit. In the US, one in three persons has fallen victim to identity theft. And it’s expensive as well. The current annual cost of fraud to the global economy is $5 trillion.
As a business, you must make sure that undesirables can’t use your goods and services. However, you also don’t want to turn away loyal clients. People will become disinterested if your onboarding procedure is time-consuming or difficult.
You must achieve the ideal equilibrium. the comfort and quickness that your customers desire. and the scalability and security your business demands.
So what can companies do to safeguard both themselves and their clients?
The advantages of document validation
Verifying IDs and documents may be a procedure you are already familiar with. Banks and other companies have been doing it for many years. However, you might only be accustomed to verifying an ID in a physical setting. Customers experience friction, the procedure takes longer, and your organization is unable to grow as a result.
You can remotely verify the identification of your consumers using a digital document verification service. It’s a quick and easy approach to verifying the validity of an ID as part of a remote onboarding procedure. This scales up your ID checks and makes them more effective. It makes life simpler for your clients while safeguarding your company against counterfeit IDs.
The issue is that many companies lack the funding, expertise, or technology necessary to perform comprehensive document verification. Document fraud comes in a variety of forms, and each one requires a unique way of detection. Recognizing and stopping the many frauds kinds costs time and money.
- A comprehensive document verification system can be useful in this situation.
- Defining the various forms of document fraud
- What is a document verification solution good for, then?
- Let’s first gain some insight into the many categories of document fraud.
Three categories can be used to group fraudulent documents:
- Modified documents are produced when a fraudster makes changes to an authentic, original document.
- Documents that are not legitimate: These are wholly fake productions.
- Documents that have been falsely represented may be genuine or original, but they do not belong to the person who is presenting them.
Then, each of these many groups includes its own variety of false paperwork. For instance, fake documents and blank stolen documents are two different sorts of manipulated documents. Is it even possible for a fraudster to obtain blank documents, you might be wondering. As it happens, it is. Thieves stole 3,000 blank passports and visas back in 2008.
counterfeit documents, compromised or sample documents, and fantasy or camouflage documents are the three main types of illegal documents. The Republic of Texas—ever heard of it? Until it turned up on a fake document, neither had we.
Lastly, there are two categories of incorrectly represented documents: impostor documents and documents obtained illegally. Without advanced identity verification technologies, this sort of ID theft is also the hardest to identify.
As you can see, things get challenging very quickly. There are millions of different IDs available from hundreds of different nations, and fraudsters can alter documents in a variety of ways. Each one has a unique appearance and set of security features.
Identity verification specialists like Onfido have the expertise and experience to recognize many forms of fraud. We work in this manner. Thousands of various document formats can be supported, and we have the capacity to tell whether or not they are fake.
So how do we go about doing this?
Document verification is used to identify the many types of ID fraud.
To catch as many instances of ID fraud as you can, you need a range of tactics because each type is unique.
For instance, checking for data consistency is the easiest way to spot papers that have been updated. This entails making sure all sections on the card have the document registration number, expiration date, date of birth, gender, and other encoded information.
Visual document authenticity analytics can stop fraudulent papers from getting past detection. We can determine whether things line up as they should by comparing documents to templates.
Things become a little trickier when it comes to documents that have been misrepresented. The only effective defense against this kind of fraud is proof-of-ownership confirmation. Therefore, while the document verification process has its advantages when utilized as a stand-alone solution, it will be less effective at catching fraud. After all, it only establishes the validity of an ID. The identity of the individual using that ID cannot be confirmed.
Combining biometric verification and document checks
Comparing a digital image or video of the individual to the image on the ID card is the most effective way to detect fraud like counterfeit documents. The authenticity of the document is confirmed by a document check and a face check that links it to the person presenting it.
