Digital Document Verification In Preventing Identity Fraud

Document Verification was first used in 1964 and since then there hasn’t been a time when fraud completely ended. Now that the world is converting into a digital environment, fraud happens in new ways too. Adding to the problems, the coronavirus pandemic has forcing organizations to shift to online platforms, even when the security measures required were not implemented.

The basic purpose is the same – stealing someone’s identity and using it for criminal activities. But in an online space, manipulating documents and gaining illegal access to users’ accounts is easier for fraudsters. There are, however, service providers that give businesses the facility to stay one step ahead and secure their online workspaces with digital document verification.

Increasing Need For Online Document Verification

Numerous cases have been reported where large amounts of money were lost due to identity fraud, and the losses expected in 2021 equals approximately 721.3 billion dollars. Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated and find ways to convince interviewers of being legitimate customers.

In some cases, businesses shy away from security measures because they are not willing to spending extra funds, and also because they are too focus on making profits that they don’t consider the risks associated with fake ID documents.

Risks Associated With Online Platforms

The social distancing issue has caused employees of various companies around the world to work from home. Since office work has indirectly become a health hazard, the interviews and onboarding processes are also conducted through online platforms. Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated and find ways to convince interviewers of being legitimate customers.

There is no doubt that companies manage to get the work done, but considering the onboarding process, in particular, there are risks involving. This is where businesses need to incorporate digital document verification. The lack of proper document checks in the customer onboarding process often results in the employees being fraudsters whose intentions are to bring more losses than profits to the institution. Now that the world is converting into a digital environment, fraud happens in new ways too. Adding to the problems, the coronavirus pandemic has forcing organizations to shift to online platforms, even when the security measures requiring were not implemented.

Employers in online meetings can never be sure of the actual identities of the attendees, especially when they are virtually onboard. In the worst cases, the employee may turn out to be an identity thief, and important business information shared in meetings can be leaking. For this reason, digital document verification is absolutely necessary on online platforms.

Fake Document Types

• Illegal documents

These documents don’t possess the important characteristics of an original document. These may include unique rainbow patterns and the font styles used in the government-issued identity document but do not have other required features of a real document.

• Tampered documents

Small changes are often make to original documents belonging to someone else. The modifications are make in order to get through security checks and use the document for criminal activity.

• Stolen documents

These are original documents but they belong to some other individual. Fake authentication is often successful with the use of these documents and results in financial crime.

How do Document Verification Solutions work?

When businesses do incorporate digital document verification in their systems. Initially, they are requiring to install the service on their web or mobile platforms. The users are prompting to uploaing images of their ID cards, which are then scanning using OCR technology. The software analyzes the information and verifies the authenticity of the document. Which is following by showing the verification results to the user.

The users identified as legitimate individuals can continue with the onboarding. On the contrary, the potential customers whose records don’t match or have suspicious alterations are rejecting. In this way, the bad actors can be filtering out by making use of digital document verification.

Document Authentication

The document authentication process is not as simple as it used to be when an individual looked at the document once and approved it. Using the latest technologies such as AI, digital document verification leaves no stone unturned.

Documents considering to be original are scanning to detect unique characteristics. Those are suppose to be present in government-issued ID documents. Common characteristics in these official documents are rainbow patterns and special ink. These can be verified using AI and the previously stored data in libraries. Also, information can be fetching from the MRZ (machine readable zone) code that is usually present. Below are the personal details on the identity document.

In a Nutshell

To sum it up, digital document verification is an important security measure for online platforms. The systems are both time-efficient and also save the cost to hire individuals for manual verification. Therefore digital document verification should be an integral part of the systems of all institutions.

Companies face risks of identity fraud due to the lack of authentication measures for customers. Digital document verification can save businesses from bankruptcy.