The What, Why, and How of a Document Verification Process

Regulatory bodies across the globe are dealing with identity document fraud for quite some time now. But, still, the presence of counterfeit documents remains in the identity verification space. Financial crimes having their roots in ID theft and fraud, involve the use of fake documents one way or the other. Moreover, with the advent of online verification of scanned documents, ID fraudsters are coming up with new ways to forge counterfeit documents every day. Thus, this situation demands a document screening process that is capable of performing document verification checks remotely and that too with increased accuracy.

What Is Document Verification?

The customer onboarding process and subsequent authorization checks for access involve the use of identity documents. Hence, the process of verifying the legitimacy and originality of these ID credentials is known as a document verification process. Here, the documents accepted can be any type of identity documentation issued by an official government body. Among others, these include NIC, passport, and driving license documents. Moreover, this process can be performed at the place of verification i.e, a bank as done traditionally or it can be conducted online.

The Application of AI in Document Verification

Identity documents are carriers of confidential information. The sensitivity of this data is compromised if your users have to physically carry them to the place of verification. It is best if the identity document verification process is undertaken remotely. But, to do that, you need state-of-the-art technologies to ensure ultra-high reliability of the process. To address this need comes the application of artificial technology. It assists the document authentication process with its ability to process a mammoth amount of documents within no time and that too with the accuracy rate not achieved by human verification.

What is Checked in Online Document Verification?

Government-issued identity documents contain various types of unique patterns and sections. So, among others, the most common checks performed by an online document verification system are outlined below:

• Checking the authenticity of a document through AI and ML models.
• Checking the legitimacy of the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) code printed on the document. Then the MRZ code and the information stated on the document are compared.
• The document validation services then identify any wear and tear on the documents. Moreover, the document’s format, language, and type are recognized.
• Since the legitimate ID documents contain rainbow prints, the document authentication solutions check whether or not they are tampered with.
• Intricate details like the paper and ink used on the ID document are also checked by these services.
• It should be noted that the electronic forgery attempts are practically impossible to detect with the naked eye, but not for the AI-powered document validation system.
• The AI-assisted document verification solution also checks for the authenticity of micro prints on the ID documents.

Industry Qualms About Digital ID Verification

With the increased reliance on online document verification systems, the traditional school of thought still remain skeptical about the security, reliability, and accuracy of these solutions. Businesses are tasked with storing the confidential information of customers on their servers which becomes quite difficult amid the data breaches and hacking attempts. Moreover, businesses would only resort to this solution if it is significantly more accurate than the traditional verification processes.

How Online Document Verification Services Remove These Fears?

Digital document verification services remove any qualms that business owners may have about the efficiency of their solutions. Moreover, the third-party services which have nothing to hide go public with their pricing structure. As to the accuracy rate, these services are able to achieve as high as the 98% mark. When compared with manual verification processes, the swiftness of the online services leaves the traditional ones far behind in the race.

Furthermore, the privacy policy and terms and conditions of the online document verification systems can tell a lot about them.

Wrapping it Up

As quick and reliable authentication of a user’s document is put on utmost priority as far the digital onboarding process is concerned, thus restoring to novel technologies like AI and ML should be the only way forward. Since the online document services cut cost and save time while being more accurate, so it comes as a no-brainer for businesses to employ their services.