10 Common Misconceptions
Businesses Have About Identity Proofing An IDology, Inc. Whitepaper
10 Common Misconceptions Businesses Have About Identity Proofing
There is a new automated technology available now that is helping businesses combat identity theft and prevent fraud. It is called identity proofing and it is specifically designed to verify consumer identities online. With all the fraud prevention solutions available in the market today you are probably wondering, does my company really need to use an identity proofing solution? Here are some of the most common misconceptions to help you understand why the answer is yes.
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We use credit card verification and don’t need anything else. Credit card verification simply determines that a credit card is active – not that the person using the card is authorized to do so. Stolen credit card numbers, including the 3-4 digit security numbers, are widely available for sale in Internet chat rooms within minutes of being stolen. Often it takes several days or weeks for a consumer to see any unauthorized purchases to their account and by then the damage is done and your merchandise is long gone.
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I don’t really sell any products on the web. While most people associate identity proofing with selling products and services online, the truth is identity proofing can be used to identify customers in any faceless situation including within call centers. It can also be valuable in situations when the person is right in front of you. The need to identify customers goes way beyond selling electronics and high-end jewelry. Other risk scenarios include granting access to an account, applying for a loan, verifying an employee’s social security number matches government records, transferring money, resetting a password, and so forth. Basically anywhere fraud and identity theft could happen, identity proofing should be used.
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© 2013 IDology, Inc.
10 Common Misconceptions Businesses Have About Identity Proofing
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It’s not safe…anyone can make up an answer to “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” True. This is why this type of question is called a shared secret. Shared secrets can only be used to proof someone’s identity after a relationship is established with the consumer. Instead, identity proofing uses a question process called knowledge-based authentication. Questions are developed in real-time using information found on that person in thousands of trusted data sources, like property records and driver’s licenses, and work to identify someone before and after a relationship is established. Because the questions are dynamic and based off someone’s personal history, only the real person is able to answer them.
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Our fraud rates are already low. Yes, but how much revenue are you missing from tight fraud controls and procedures? How many legitimate customers are you turning down? And how many transactions does your team have to manually review? Often companies forget to factor in the amount of time that is required from employees and the impact this has on productivity. Manually reviewing transactions, especially in high velocity situations, creates process inefficiencies and ultimately a higher cost for doing business. Not to mention longer processing times and slower fulfillment rates which impact customer satisfaction and ultimately revenue.
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Customers will not like it. A lot of the identity proofing process happens without interrupting the transaction at hand. You should let your customers know that you are protecting them by verifying their identity. But because basic id proofing is usually integrated behind the scenes and uses information a consumer is already providing you, such as their name and address, most times consumers will be unaware of the process, unless of course there is a problem with their identity.
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© 2013 IDology, Inc.
10 Common Misconceptions Businesses Have About Identity Proofing
Sometimes a situation will require active participation from your customers. The highest level of identity proofing involves asking someone a series of multiple choice questions to prove they are who they say they are. While some consumers are curious about this process, most will have increased confidence in your business because you are taking proactive steps to protect them from identity theft.
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It won’t fit my budget. Most identity proofing solutions are based on a per-transaction model and are priced depending on what you need to verify. For instance, if you only want to know that an identity is real, the cost will be much lower than if you want to verify someone is who they are claiming to be. When determining which level of verification you need, it is more important to focus on ROI and evaluate the value identity proofing adds to your business. Consider things like how much more revenue it brings and how it will lower your overall cost of doing business.
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Identity proofing slows down sales. Not true, in fact identity proofing does just the opposite – it will actually increase the rate of sales lending to your business realizing more revenue. Think about how many customers you currently flag for manual review because the activity looks suspicious. According to the 2007 annual fraud survey conducted by CyberSource, 90% of manually reviewed transactions turn out to be legitimate customers. Having a quicker process to determine real customers from the fakes will only speed approval rates and allow more orders to be filled.
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Š 2013 IDology, Inc.
10 Common Misconceptions Businesses Have About Identity Proofing
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A thief can easily find the answers to identity proofing questions, and if not, will guess until they get it right. Several identity proofing solutions are based on “out of wallet” questions which means a wallet thief cannot answer questions based on information found in your wallet. Using personal history questions allows topics to be presented that date back throughout a consumer’s life and are difficult for someone other than the actual person to answer correctly. Advanced identity proofing vendors have considered the guess factor and designed their systems to not present the same questions over and over as well as put limitations on how many times a person can try to answer.
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I already have a fraud solution. Yes, but does it have identity proofing too? The great thing about identity proofing is it works with your current fraud solution, not replaces it. Instead, identity proofing will give you better insight into your activity and will alert you to things that do need further investigation. Many fraud detection systems are limited to pass/fail scenarios which are intended to stop transactions. Identity proofing is designed to keep transactions moving by giving you better insight into suspicious activity. Plus with the different levels of identity proofing, you can automatically move to a higher level of verification such as knowledge-based authentication when a result indicates this is needed.
© 2013 IDology, Inc.
10 Common Misconceptions Businesses Have About Identity Proofing
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It’s too hard to implement and my IT staff is swamped. Not if the identity proofing vendor you choose offers its services through an application service model. Rather than dealing with complicated integration plans and processes, your business could be up and running in less than a day. Sure there is some time required from your IT staff but there are solutions that are designed to lessen the impact on these resources by making the process technically simple both to implement and maintain.
About IDology, Inc.
IDology helps drive revenue, decrease costs and prevent fraud by providing real-time technology solutions to proof an individual’s identity and age online, in a call center or through a mobile headset, without interrupting the transaction. What is unique is we do this in a way that builds more confidence with your customers – by protecting sensitive data and promoting consumer privacy. Using our ExpectID® solutions, businesses have the ability to easily and quickly escalate proofing requirements based on the initial findings of a search by delivering interactive, multiple choice questions derived from independent sources that prove someone is who they claim to be. IDology is the only provider to offer an on-demand change management tool that allows client business unit managers to manage and control the entire proofing process without having to rely on internal IT resources or contact IDology’s customer service.
For more information, visit www.idology.com or call 866-520-1234.
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© 2013 IDology, Inc.
280 Interstate North Circle SE Suite 610 Atlanta, GA 30339 866-520-1234 www.IDology.com