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Many different companies need to check up on the ages of their staff and customers, and for many reasons. When it comes to employing someone, there are all sorts of restrictions on working hours for under 16s. People under the age of 18 can’t serve alcohol in a pub, or work with dangerous chemicals. Similar restrictions are often placed on customers. Someone hiring a car might have to be over 25, and many different clubs and bars operate an over 21 only policy. So, it’s very important to be able to verify someone’s age. Most of us carry documents which show our date of birth, and it’s common practice for employers to ask to see them before we start work, or to be asked for ID when buying an age restricted item. But how do you know the documents are genuine?

ID Fraud

There’s a growing problem in the UK with identity fraud. At one end of the scale you have a teenager borrowing a mate’s passport to try to get alcohol in the supermarket – it’s hardly the crime of the century. However, there are also some much more serious issues around identity fraud, people trafficking, modern day slavery and organised crime. So rather than hazarding a guess at someone’s age from their appearance, most companies have decided to implement a robust age verification policy to make sure they are keeping on the right side of the law.

Checking Someone’s Age

Whether you’re checking the age of a job applicant or a customer, the process is the same. The best way of verifying their age is to see some sort of official document, preferably with a photograph, which clearly states their date of birth. The best examples are things like passport, driving licence or the national identity card from another country. There are other ways; for example, someone under the age of 18 can’t get a credit card or a loan, so seeing and verifying bills or statements can prove that they are over this age, if not their exact age. The trick is being able to separate the genuine documents from the fakes and this takes some skill.

As there is such a wide range of identity documents which can be used to prove who you are and how old you are, many companies choose to outsource the checking to skilled professionals. These third-party companies do nothing but verifying documents and identities, and are quick to spot when something isn’t quite right. They might also be able to help you draw up guidelines for your own staff when checking customers or job applicants.

Front Line Staff

Depending on the organisation and the potential consequences of getting the age checking wrong, it might be wise to train all staff on what to look for. Often, companies restrict the type of identity documents they will accept as proof of age. Staff can then gain experience in checking one type of ID only. Training on the security features of that particular type of ID can help them detect anomalies.

Know Your Customer – often abbreviated to KYC – describes the process which a company goes through in checking out a customer before deciding whether to do business with them. KYC doesn’t apply to businesses where customers pay before they receive goods or services. It is really only relevant to situations where companies supply goods or services along with an invoice, hoping that the bill will be settled after 30 or 60 days. Not getting paid can dramatically affect a company’s cashflow, and in the worst-case scenario, force an organisation into liquidation. So many organisations choose to implement a robust KYC checking process to avoid dealing with risky customers in the first place.

Why is KYC so important?

Going back a few years, most organisations had local customers. A supplier of, for example, paint would sell to wholesalers and decorators in their local area. They knew their customers personally, with relationships built up over years. However, the economy is now global. Most companies are still dealing with their local customer base, but also fulfilling orders from around the globe. And this is where KYC comes in. If your business receives a huge order from India, Argentina or South Africa, should you send the goods?

The other consideration is money laundering regulations. Under UK law and in most of the rest of Europe, there are rules about dealing with companies overseas. A UK supplier would have to establish details such as registered address and names of directors before receiving large sums in payments for goods from overseas. In addition, there are all manner of rules and restrictions against doing business with organisations in specific countries, or in specific market sectors. If you fall foul of sanctions, then there could be stiff financial penalties too.

Verifying Company Identity

In many ways, the KYC process is like checking the identity of an individual. Rather than asking to see a passport and driving licence, suppliers might be asking for company registration certificates, lists of directors and doing searches on the local equivalent of Companies House. Nothing which a customer tells you should be taken on face value. Most customers, both in the UK and overseas, are more than happy to send you copies of their certificates of incorporation and details of their directors. The trick is spotting the fake documents among the piles of real ones.

This isn’t always easy, and many smaller businesses choose to outsource verification to expert companies instead. These companies have people spending all day, every day vetting companies overseas. They know exactly what to look for, and which databases to search for reliable information. KYC is the art of looking at all the data you have on a customer overseas, weighing up how important and significant that data is, and then making the decision whether to go ahead with the deal or not. Companies which are dealing with overseas customers or suppliers on a regular basis should have a written Know Your Customer policy and make this available to everyone in the company.

Would you know a forged passport or bank statement if you saw one? Most of us would like to think that we’d be able to spot a fake at a glance. But the reality is that it’s often not so simple. Identity fraudsters are getting smarter than ever and not checking documents properly could cost your company dear. Let someone with fake ID drive off in an expensive new hire car, and you stand little chance of ever seeing it – or them – again. Similarly, if you’re hiring a new employee, you want to make sure that they are who they say they are.

It’s important to remember that document verification and document certification isn’t the same thing. A “certified document” just means that a scan or photocopied document is a true reflection of the original document. This is usually used when people don’t want to send valuable originals through the post. The verification process is a deeper level of checking into the authenticity of the documents, and whether they match the identity of the person presenting them.

What does the process involve?

Document verification, as the name suggests, is about checking the documents which are presented to you by a customer or employee. These documents are usually officially recognised, government documents such as your birth certificate, driving licence and passport. Organisations must make sure that the documents they are shown are genuine and match the person presenting them. There are a few ways organisations can do this, but it really boils down to two key choices: doing it inhouse, or contracting out the work to a third party. There are advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Doing Document Verification In-House

If you decide to take on the role of document verification in house, then there are a number of advantages to consider. If you are processing a large number of new employees or applications each month, then it could be more cost effective to employ someone for the task tan outsourcing the job to someone else. In addition, keeping the checks in house give you total control over what happens, and how. However, smaller companies might not process the volume of checks to make it someone’s full time job. This also means that whoever is in charge of doing the checks can’t develop the “expert eye” which is often needed to pick up the subtle differences which indicate something is wrong.

Subcontracting Document Verification

Smaller organisations often choose to get another organisation to manage their document checking for them. It’s quicker, less hassle and you have a professional set of eyes looking over your paperwork. The downside to getting this high level of professional service is the cost, but this might not be as high as you’d think. Many third-party organisations can access other publicly available information to cross check the information on your documents, such as the electoral register. Others can look at credit file history and other databases to give extra information on the person presenting the documentation.

Would it surprise you that in 2016 there were over 173,000 cases of identity fraud detected in the UK? And these are just the cases which were reported to the police. The true extent of the problem could be much larger. There are many situations in which an organisation might want to check the identity documents of people the deal with, either customers or prospective staff. If your company is sloppy in checking the identity of people you are dealing with, this could result in substantial losses – both financial and in reputation. Checking documents is an art rather than a science, with several aspects to consider.

Four Types of Document Fraud

There are lots of different ways in which criminals could try to take advantage of your company using identity fraud. Experts classify the wider “identity fraud” crime into four main categories:

• Impersonation – this is when genuine documents are used by someone else.
• Counterfeit – these are documents which are wholly fake, and which have been made to look just like the originals.
• Forgeries – although this term is often used interchangeably with counterfeit, in document terms it means a genuine document which has been altered, such as putting in a new photograph, or changing a date of birth.
• Pseudo-documents – these are documents which look official and are designed to deceive, but which have no official standing.

Spotting Dodgy Documents

Spotting good fakes, counterfeits and pseudo-documents is not always easy. It’s a skill which can take many years to develop. However, all governments around the world have built-in security features in their documents which should give a starting point for checks. Furthermore, you can easily use the internet to check up on the authenticity of documents and find out what sort of security marks you should be looking for. The main security features built into official documents are:

• Watermarks – these are patterns or pictures which are woven into the paper as it is being printed. If you hold up paper to the light, the watermark is usually clearly visible.
• Printing – many documents use raised printing which feels rough or bumpy when you run your fingers over it.
• Ink – documents might also use optical variable ink. This special fluid can appear to be a different colour depending on how you look at it.
• UV – ultraviolet light is often used to show up hidden security features in a document such as security fibres in the paper or hidden patterns usually invisible.

The easiest way of spotting a dodgy document is when you have a genuine one for comparison. If that’s not possible, then run through the various security features which you know are in the document, checking carefully for each one. Usually, there will be pictures online to help you with this. If you are unsure about any documents don’t return them to the person who has given them to you; retain them and get advice on what to do next. Most often, this means turning over fakes to the police.