Document fraud vs. identity fraud: what’s the difference and how can you detect them?
Fraud can occur at different stages of a verification process. With the rise of remote processes and advances in artificial intelligence, certain types of fraud are becoming easier to carry out and more difficult to detect.
A document may be forged or contain altered information. A person may use someone else’s identity or documents. And even when an identity has been correctly verified beforehand, someone else may later show up at the workplace or assignment location.
These are known as document fraud, identity fraud, and identity substitution. Each presents different risks and requires appropriate verification measures.
In this article, we explore these different types of fraud, how they can be detected, and the technologies that can help strengthen verification processes.
What is document fraud?
Document fraud involves creating, altering, or fraudulently using a document in order to deceive a verification process.
It can involve many types of documents, including identity documents, residence permits, diplomas, certificates, and other administrative documents.
Document fraud can take different forms. For example:
- a completely fabricated document, such as a fake employment certificate or a fake work permit;
- a genuine document in which certain information has been altered, such as a name, date, photo, or validity period;
- a document containing inconsistencies between the visible information and the data it contains, for example between the information displayed on the document and the data encoded in the MRZ or a barcode.
Artificial intelligence makes it easier to create and modify documents. A document can be entirely generated or, more subtly, a genuine document can be altered to change just one critical field.
How can document fraud be detected?
A visual check may help identify certain obvious anomalies, but sophisticated alterations or inconsistencies can be more difficult to detect.
Document verification can therefore combine several types of checks:
- extracting and comparing data from different areas of the document;
- checking the consistency of the information, such as dates, numbers, identity details, validity periods, etc.;
- verifying certain information against an external source, when available;
- detecting potential signs of manipulation or forgery.
The aim is therefore not simply to determine whether a document appears authentic, but to cross-check multiple elements in order to identify potential anomalies.
Solution: CheckHub Reader
As volumes increase, carrying out all these checks manually can quickly become time-consuming.
CheckHub Reader automates document processing and verification by applying a workflow tailored to each document type.
The document can be automatically identified and classified, relevant data extracted, and different checks performed according to your needs.
What is identity fraud?
Identity fraud involves using another person’s identity or impersonating someone else in order to bypass a verification process.
A document may be completely authentic but used by someone who is not its rightful holder.
Verification must therefore go beyond checking the authenticity of the document: it must also confirm that the document belongs to the person presenting it.
How can identity fraud be detected?
Identity verification can rely on several complementary checks.
Identity document verification can be complemented by biometric checks to confirm that the document belongs to the person presenting it.
Face matching compares the person’s face with the photo on their identity document.
Liveness detection verifies that a real person is actually present at the time of verification.
By combining document verification, face matching, and liveness detection, it is possible to increase the level of confidence in the verification process.
However, even an identity that has been correctly verified beforehand does not always eliminate another risk: identity substitution.
What is identity substitution?
Identity substitution occurs when someone shows up in place of the person whose identity was previously verified.
For example, one person may successfully complete the onboarding process and required checks, while someone else later shows up at the workplace or assignment location.
This risk is particularly relevant in environments where large numbers of people work across different locations, such as temporary staffing, events, or certain controlled-access environments.
Solution: CheckHub Pass
CheckHub Pass addresses this risk by reconfirming a person’s identity directly when they arrive on site.
The entire process can be completed directly from a smartphone, with no app to download. The person scans the QR code displayed at the assignment location, identifies themselves, and takes a new selfie.
This selfie is compared with the photo from the previously verified identity document to confirm that the person present matches the identity verified beforehand.
If the identity is confirmed, a temporary pass is generated with its validity period and information related to the mission.
A multi-layered approach to verification
An effective approach means applying the right level of verification at the right time: verifying the document, confirming that it belongs to the person presenting it, and, when necessary, reconfirming their identity later in the process.
The aim is not to systematically add more checks, but to adapt the level of verification to the identified risks and context.
With CheckHub’s document and identity verification solutions, these different layers of verification can be integrated into workflows tailored to each organisation’s needs.