With age verification technologies rapidly evolving, businesses must gain a thorough understanding of the process, its techniques, and the benefits of conscience.
A number of enterprises are oblivious to the need for age verification in their operations, with UK gambling companies fined £ 19.6 million for money laundering and underage gambling.
What Is Age Verification and How Does It Work?
Age verification is a process in which the user/purchaser of a business’s identity document is checked to see if the age information provided is correct. This technique can be performed either manually or automatically. Manual verification isn’t usually used since there’s a high risk of human error and the operation is time-consuming.
Online age verification is widely employed by numerous businesses to solve this problem. It enables clients from all around the world to have their ages verified.
How Is Age Verification Done Online?
Online age verification is a quick method that provides results in under a minute, saving the fraud officer and compliance department a lot of time and work.
• The end user (your client) must input his date of birth and present his ID Card or another form of identification containing his date of birth (passport, driver’s licence, etc.).
• The system checks the document for default formatting and compares the document’s date of birth to the one entered by the end user.
• When the verification procedure is finished, the results are displayed to the end user and the back office is updated.
What Are the Benefits of Age Verification for Businesses?
The following are some of the major reasons why businesses need to verify their consumers’ age:
Regulatory Adherence
Regulatory compliance is frequently one of the primary reasons why businesses need to verify the age of their clients. In certain countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, regulations have made age verification mandatory for particular enterprises, with severe fines applied in the event of disobedience.
Regulatory compliance aids in the development of a company’s credit rating and market value.
False Identity Threat
Children frequently exploit their parents’ or elders’ identification to make internet purchases. In such instances, if a corporation does not employ identity verification, it risks losing its reputation and facing consequences.
Identity thieves utilizing other people’s identities to acquire free services and perks are another source of risk for certain firms. Some benefits, such as pensions and retirement programmes, are frequently offered to the poor, and criminals might get these benefits unlawfully by assuming fraudulent identities.
Age Verification Benefits for Businesses
Because they do not engage face-to-face with their customers’ ID cards, such online business are at danger. their elders or parents
To take advantage of the aforementioned, some organizations must utilize online age verification. It is a frequent misconception that only gambling websites demand ID verification; however, this is not the case. Your consumers’ ages:
E-commerce environment
E-commerce is a massive industry. These platforms frequently have a wide offering, with some geared for kids and others aimed only at adults. Age verification requirements are also imposed on these platforms, making it difficult for them to regulate their audiences.
If an internet company offers food and alcohol, for example, it must include barriers in its website design to prevent minors from purchasing these items. In this scenario, online age verification software shows to be an effective and convenient risk management tool.
• Hospitals and pharmacies
Some highly expensive drugs can be sold through online pharmacies and clinics. If these medications are administered incorrectly, they can be lethal. They were created with the goal of delivering prescription medicine to those who needed it.
Children obtain drugs by using their parents’ prescriptions. Children often develop addicted to these pharmaceuticals as a result of their parents’ or pharmacy’s/neglect, hospital’s and neither the parents nor the pharmacy/hospital are aware of the consequences of their actions.
• Lottery websites on the internet
It is widespread practice to implant online lottery websites using children’ stolen identities.
Criminals utilize these websites to launder your dark money. If a lottery website fails to verify its clients’ ages prior to entry, a criminal who deposits money through their platform using the identity of a child faces a number of repercussions.
Because a lottery website must pay fines for selling minors and failing to comply with AML requirements, age verification is required in order to avoid harsh government penalties and a tarnished image.
To Wrap it up
To summarise, the advantages and applications of age verification go beyond what the general public is aware of. Many businesses may benefit from age verification software to boost client loyalty and reduce fraud.