Online fraud prevention techniques have been evolving over the years with every few years new technology being leveraged in order to launch tools and solutions that can help businesses to thwart attempts of online scams. Some solutions take help from original identity documents, others opt for in-person user verification. But at the end of the day, almost all of them fail to counter the threat posed by scammers and fraudsters to the online marketplace.

Just last year, in the US alone more than 16 million users suffered identity theft and a major reason for those cases was due to lax security measures adopted by big tech companies. Now, ordinarily, a simple KYC system will be able to help online businesses from those 16 million user data from being exploited by scammers to avail services that they are not authorized to use.

But the main cause of concerns showed by online businesses about digital identity verification can be mainly divided into 2 reasons

1. The speed of verification with such KYC systems is pretty low and it causes significant friction in the user experience.

2. The amount of personal information collected during a KYC process (authentic Identity document, Name, DoB, and other related personal information) puts businesses at substantial risk of a data breach.

Both of the above points make it hard for businesses to adopt a full proof fraud prevention tool that uses the KYC process. But this is where biometric verification comes in and its various forms help businesses to thwart attempts of identity fraud without compromising on the quality of their services. Online Facial Verification is the favored format used by many businesses because of the various benefits that it has to offer. Some of them are detailed below:

No Special Hardware Requirements

In the purest form of digital identity verification, biometric verification when performed with the help of facial recognition means that the business utilizing this avenue for user verification will not have to buy any special hardware equipment. Unlike fingerprint or iris scans that require businesses to invest in specialized equipment, facial verification is something that can easily be performed with the webcam of phone or laptop device.

Effective at deterring fraud

Although, there is little doubt in the effectiveness of conventional identity proofing solutions, but it is always the matter of cost and integration that helps biometric verification trump these solutions. Within the domain of biometric verifications, online face verification is always considered more effective to determine the true identity of an incoming user.

It can be merged with ID verification for a reliable identity validation by matching the facial features of a verifying user captured during a live stream and cross-matching them with the image present on an Identity document such as ID Card, passports & driving licenses.

With fingerprint scans and retinal scans, there is always a risk of stealing this biometric data or copying it from an existing database.

On the other hand, facial recognition technology requires the user to be present at the time of verification and anti-facial spoofing features mean that it is nearly impossible for a scammer to cheat the verification system. After all, if Facebook has the ability to identify each of your friends in an uploaded image, then surely it was going to take no-time for user verification service providers to use the similar technology to help their clients fight identity theft and online scams.

Remote Usage is Possible

Unlike other forms of biometric verifications that require businesses to verify the identity of their incoming users at a certain location, online face verification allows businesses to verify the identity of their customers at remote locations as well. All they need is access to a webcam attached to a laptop or smartphone and they are good to go. Liveness detection feature means that it will be virtually impossible to verify one’s identity with the help of a still image and any attempt to photoshop an uploaded image will also be impossible.

For businesses - regardless of their specific category, industry or niche - that want to fight online scams and reduce business losses caused due to the stolen identity or financial details will find it nearly impossible to find any better solution to their problems other than biometric verification with the help of facial recognition technology.