The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an uptick in digital fraud and identity theft, with 18,235 pandemic-related fraud reports received by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since the beginning of the year. The trouble is that the restrictions put into place to help slow the pandemic’s spread has forced brick-and-mortar businesses to close, and therefore driving up the demand for digital onboarding solutions.
The result has led to a surge in digital ID innovation, with businesses in all sectors relying on both artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics to verify consumers remotely from the safety of their own homes.
In the May Digital Identity Tracker®, PYMNTS explores the latest developments in the world of digital IDs, such as the harnessing of biometrics for remote onboarding and enlisting AI in the fight against digital ID theft.
Developments From Around The World Of Digital ID
Technology firms worldwide are working to meet the growing demand for reliable, remote and digital ID verification. New York-based Fenergo is just one example: the firm is deploying what it calls Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bots to collect and sort application data and coordinate it with financial institutions’ (FIs’) native loan application processes. The bots help streamline the PPP application process for small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) by making it as simple as it is to apply for any other loan with their FIs.
Digital onboarding solution provider eID is helping the COVID-19 relief effort by providing its One-Click Onboarding service to essential workers for free. The solution uses biometric identification technology and AI-powered facial recognition scans to verify users’ identities, and the firm is providing 50,000 free scans to medical workers during the pandemic.
IBM, meanwhile, is working to ease the stresses the pandemic has placed on the medical supply chain with a new blockchain-based network called Rapid Supplier Connect. The network leverages digital ID solutions to allow government agencies and healthcare providers to quickly verify suppliers of key medical products in the face of widespread shortages.
For more on these and other digital identity news items, download this month’s Tracker.
Trust & Will Deploys AI-powered Digital Solutions To Innovate Estate Planning
The estate planning process is historically heavily paper-based, and many archaic laws are keeping it that way. Legal regulations in most states mandate that consumers must attend in-person meetings and provide physical ID documents in order to verify their identities before producing or altering their wills. For this month’s Feature Story, PYMNTS spoke with the founder and CEO of digital service provider Trust & Will, Cody Barbo, on how the firm is using AI- and biometric-enabled ID verification to streamline the estate planning process.
Deep Dive: Enlisting AI And Biometrics In Response To Widespread Digital Identity Theft
The pandemic has presented opportunity for scammers to prey on consumers, which has led to a dramatic uptick in digital identity theft and fraud. This is compounded by the fact that many FIs still rely on in-person meetings to verify new consumers’ identities during onboarding, limiting their abilities to thoroughly and quickly screen new customers for fraud. This month’s Deep Dive explores how FIs are teaming up with identity verification solution providers to innovate safer, faster digital onboarding solutions that leverage biometric and document-based verification techniques that enable firms to onboard new clients remotely.
About The Tracker
The Digital ID Tracker®, a PYMNTS and Jumio collaboration, is the go-to monthly resource for updates on trends and changes in the digital ID industry.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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