How We Verify Any ID Document in the World

Growing numbers of businesses and industries are becoming subject to identity verification before onboarding their customers.

Global businesses with customers all over the world can be required to process thousands of different identification documents as their customers look to use their products and services. 

But, the challenge when handling this many forms of identification is to ensure your processes remain robust and efficient with minimal disruption to the user journey.

Below is a list of all the topics we will cover in this article. Go ahead and click on any of these links, and you’ll be taken to that specific section.

• Global ID Documents
• Our Most Submitted Documents in 2020
• How We Verify Any Document
• How We Can Help

Global ID Documents

There are thousands of identification documents in circulation worldwide. Some countries issue formal identity documents, as national identification cards which may be compulsory or non-compulsory, while others may require identity verification using regional identification or informal documents.

Identity documents can take many forms – from ID cards, to driver’s licenses, to passports and digital IDs – and it is crucial that each one is unique and has specific features that allow it to be verified.

The unique features of many identity documents make it very hard for criminals to create fraudulent copies in order to steal someone’s identity or carry out unlawful activity. The rarer an identity document is, the better it is at protecting its holder.

Each country tends to have a list of ‘state-approved’ identity documents that are rare, unique and protected enough to be trusted by financial institutions and when carrying out sensitive activity. All countries have passports but each is unique and special in some way. They come in different colours and textures, containing differing content, and are considered to have varying levels of power depending on how many countries they allow the carrier to enter.

Our Most Submitted Documents in 2020

Here at Acuant, we can analyse and authenticate the data from over 5,000 different types of national document and we verify ID documents from all over the world every single day. Here are the documents we verified most in 2020:

The document we verified the most last year was the United States Passport, followed by the United Kingdom Driving Licence and the Portugal Citizen Card.

United States Passports are printed at the US Government Printing Office using 60 different materials. There are as many as 30 security features at work in every US passport, and most of them aren’t visible to the holder.

The UK driving licence incorporates a number of security features, including holographic aspects, colour changing ink and raised lettering which can be seen when viewed at an angle.

The Portugal Citizen Card is a national identity card which was introduced in 2007. It replaced five different physical ID documents in a fascinating case in point for State modernization. The card supports biometric authentication, as fingerprints are stored in the microprocessor of the card. 

How We Verify Any Document

Our leading solution for global document verification, iDocufy utilises a global database of over 5,000 forms of government-issued identity documents to accurately assess document authenticity and capture both visual and electronic document data.

When opening an account, a customer is asked to provide a form of ID and the solution takes care of the rest:

1. Capture – The customer is prompted to take a photo of their document 
2. Process – Images and data are processed instantly and securely in the cloud
3. Authenticate – 50+ forensic tests are performed on the credentials in real time
4. Verify – Optional facial recognition match can be performed using BioMatch

The AI-powered platform analyses the uploaded image to establish the ID information. iDocufy extracts the information provided and, depending on the type of document used, cross-references this with information scanned via NFC, or uses advanced OCR technology extracts the printed PII from the document to cross-reference against the customer’s submitted information.

In seconds, iDocufy returns an easy-to-understand set of results, alerts and scores, alongside an overall pass or fail result. 

How We Can Help

iDocufy works as a global KYC and AML check and enhances customer confidence due to its speed and seamless integration. When used together with BioMatch as part of our global ID, KYC & AML platform, Sodium, our solutions offer world-class authentication in one simple integration.

Utilise a single element or multiple processes – it’s entirely up to you. Learn more about how we can help to automate and simplify your verification processes to help you to learn more about your customers.