How Businesses Can Prevent Identity Fraud with ID Verification Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash A robust ID verification system is crucial for your business. Strong security, excellent customer service, and a reputation as a reliable company allow you to scale your business over time.

What is ID verification?

This is an online and offline process to check an individual’s identity. Verification is essential for everyday transactions like opening a checking account or IRS tax documentation. Here are some ways one can verify their identity:

• Knowledge-Based Authentication: Verifies a person’s identity with answers to security questions. The advantage of using this authentication process is that it’s a simple verification method users can use and understand. The potential drawback to this is that it’s easy to get personal information via social media, and using this knowledge is also known as identity theft. 
• Document/ QR Code Scan: ID verification is also handy when linking a document or card with your online account. Usually, banks and other financial institutions utilize document scans or QR codes. 
• Two-Factor Authentication: This usually requires users to have a personal identification known as a token, usernames, and passwords. This can be used for different tasks like making accounts or resetting passwords. 
• Biometrics Authentication: This uses the individual’s traits, verifying their identity. Biometrics may include fingerprints, voice recognition, facial characteristics, and iris scans. 

So now that we’ve walked you through the basics, here are ways how businesses can prevent identity fraud via ID verification:

1. Automatically verify a customer’s identity

No matter what the industry, most businesses lean on the same verification methods. One of the most common methods is password protection, along with email addresses, PINs, and phone numbers. However, these are conventional forms of verification and can easily be stolen or, worse, used by someone that doesn’t have permission to use them. On the other hand, digital copies of ID documents, facial recognition, and other biometrics are a lot more difficult to forge. While this isn’t a common practice amongst businesses, using them is much more ideal since they’re much harder to forge. Moreover, these verification methods will verify automatically the customer’s identity on the details of their credit card without an actual human manually checking on this. This allows brands to bridge the gap between offering an excellent customer experience and needing to check ID to avoid fraudulent payments and chargebacks.

2. It helps you stay compliant

Different governments and industries have specific regulations that businesses must comply with to conduct their business.   By verifying your ID, you can ensure you’re offering your products and services to individuals who can use them legally. This is essential in all industries.

3. Protect against phishing attacks

Cybercriminals target businesses daily, so it’s vital that your company can protect itself from these attacks. Identity verification protects you against phishing attacks by ensuring customers aren’t pretending to be someone else. They’re not to get something valuable from your business like money and customer information.

4. Helps manage risk

ID verification lets you manage risk. But assessing the level of risk is practically useless without data. Knowing who has access to your data, the competency of people with access to these data, and the verifiable status of people who have access to your data keep your business from data misuse and breaches. A stricter process like ID verification can also be part of your risk mitigation. With encryption, ID verification, and staff training, you’re giving customers peace of mind because they know their data is protected. By mitigating data breaches and fraud with an identity verification service and other processes, you’ll earn your customers’ confidence while protecting your business from damaging scams and hacks.

5. Prevent exposure to various fraudulent activities

Another excellent reason why your company needs an excellent ID verification is to reduce the possibility of a data breach and other fraudulent activities in your digital platform. The number of global data breaches has drastically increased over the years. This is because many fraudsters have worked out how to bypass old systems, potentially committing financial crimes, account takeovers, and identity theft. In fact, according to data, 60 million Americans were affected by identity theft. Not only that this causes a lot of damage to the victims, but it also puts the companies in a position where trust in their service is irrevocably lost.

6. Increases security for online transactions

With cyber threats and identity theft on the rise, businesses must ensure that their customers are well-protected from these crimes. Implementing enhanced security measures is essential for both parties, as customers need to be sure that their information is protected, and businesses should take action to ensure it is. By investing in cybersecurity solutions, businesses can create better authentication systems and encrypt stored data to decrease the likelihood of a breach. Aside from that, a business should also add extra layers of security and give education on the correct online safety practices to protect it from any outside attacks. Businesses must get an SSL Certificate that would secure online transactions & avoid any cyberattacks

7. Can enhance customer experience

Improving customer experience also have a lot of benefits. Simple upgrades like enhancing response time, offering a better customer service experience, and listening to customers’ feedback can significantly enhance their experience. In the same way, identity verification enhances customer service by providing a more secure and convenient way to access products and services. When you verify the customers’ identity quickly and securely, you can ensure they can easily get what they need without long processing times. This leads to quicker transactions and more satisfied customers. Aside from that, customers also feel safer and confident knowing that their identity is verified, making it easy for them to trust the business.

Over to You

So there you have it. Identity verification is a highly beneficial practice for both businesses and customers. It’s eventually a win-win for both parties because it lets businesses better protect their data by offering customers the security they need to do business with a company confidently. When digital device use is becoming more prevalent, companies that truly value their clients should have the right security measures in place.