Using Proof Identify to Prevent Hiring Fraud and Impersonation

Earlier this year, Proof introduced Identify, a plug-and-play customer verification solution that can be deployed into critical customer interactions with no code. Identify is a powerful tool to combat fraud, as it offers identity verification, fraud prevention, and evidence collection at multiple places in the customer journey, not just at the stages that require signatures and notarizations. 

Some of the use cases for Identify include the purchase and sale of a home, as verifying a customer ID in advance of a closing reduces significant risks and saves title companies from wasting time opening files and starting title searches for fraudulent transfers. Property management companies can verify identity at the beginning of a rental application process to thwart fraudulent renters who get approved for a different person from the one who takes possession of the property. The opportunities to use Identify are almost endless in financial services, due to the many customer touchpoints that can serve as gateways to fraud: password resets, support calls, wire transfer authorizations or access to accounts. Using Identify to insert additional identity verifications can help prevent fraudulent transactions and avoid significant financial and manpower losses.

‍Fraud is also becoming more common in the hiring and employment space. In addition to candidates submitting fraudulent resumes, companies are increasingly discovering that the person who applied for a job, and accepted the position, is not the same person who shows up for work on the first day. Candidates apply for the role, or create a fake identity for this purpose, and then outsource the work to someone else who actually shows up. This problem has been exacerbated by remote work and online interviews, says Planet Technology. 

One recent example: a security awareness training platform called KnowBe4 hired an IT worker remotely who ended being a fake IT worker from North Korea. It was only after they sent a workstation that immediately started to load malware that they realized that the worker was fake. The company had conducted video conference interviews, confirmed that the individual matched the photo on the application, and did background checks and followed up with references. Yet he managed to slip through because he had access to perfectly legitimate identity information and AI tools.

Identify can solve this problem. 

By incorporating the Identity flow into employee recruiting and assessment procedures, employers who process employment applications on a large scale can dramatically reduce the number of fake, duplicate and fraudulent applicants. They can also ensure that the person they interviewed is in fact the person who starts the job.

Here is how the process works:

1. An applicant applies for an open role.
2. The applicant passes an initial screening, but the hiring or recruiting company then needs to verify that the applicant is who they say they are.
3. The company puts the applicant through a multi-step identity verification process and generates an identity report for the company’s review. This process requires no code, and can in fact be incorporated with a simple QR code.
4. The company can interview - and hire - the candidate with confidence about the candidate’s identity both during recruitment and through hiring.
5. On the first day, the company can use Identify again to verify that the person who shows up for the job is the same person who was interviewed.

If, at any point during the process, there is a need for a human agent to step in during the verification process, Identify can provide the connection and the agent.

This simple solution relieves companies of the need to build and incorporate identity verification into their existing recruiting flow. Proof offers QR codes, Easylinks and APIs to make this process simple for recruiters and employers, as well as workflows and dashboards that give them all of the information they need to trust their hiring decisions. There is no need to build or code - Proof is the perfect partner for identity verification in the employment arena.

How could Identify had caught the fake worker at KnowBe4? Identify could have spotted this fraud through layered identity verification measures that look for AI being used in real time, with the Identity event culminating in the identity report. If KnowBe4 had done an Identify transaction at the start, the candidate may have never gotten to the interview stage – let alone the malware event – because the Proof platform would have flagged discrepancies in data or appearance that signaled the use of AI.

Companies processing a large volume of applications in the recruiting and hiring space: please reach out to Proof so that we can share more information about how Identify can handle the identity verification piece of the process and eliminate the possibility of hiring fraud.