Passport verification under the spotlight

In the last few months, there has been increasing speculation about the use of passports as a secure form of identity...

The Home Office has advised against the use of passports as a means of proof of age releasing figures as part of it’s promotion of the National ID cards to young Londoners: “Over half of the passports lost or stolen are from people under the age of 30 and 10% of those are from people who lost them at nightclubs on a night out.”

Fraudster Bryan Wilson was jailed for two years for stealing £790,000 from Barclays, after using a fraudulent passport to deposit cash under a false identity.

Putting passport fraud under an international spotlight, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed they are investigating how 6 British nationals had their passport identity stolen and used in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai; “We believe the passports used were fraudulent, and have begun our own investigation,” a spokesman said. The names, dates of birth and passport numbers on the fraudulent passports matched the originals; however the photos and signatures were different to the genuine passport copies.

Why carry out passport verification at all?

Passport verification is still a valuable tool for anyone wishing to check identity as part of a money laundering compliance procedure, fraud prevention strategy or indeed an age check process. Passports are also a common tool for right to work checks – essential for recruitment and employment.

A genuine passport is a robust form of identification, as applicants have to go through a process of checks, including providing other forms of identity in order to secure a new genuine passport. They are also much more complicated to forge that other commonly requested forms of ID – such as utility bills.

In addition passports are extremely useful where an applicant has just moved into the country and may not yet have a number of other ID records.

So how can you verify a genuine passport?

Checking a passport’s authenticity can be a difficult task, and in most cases, you should verify a genuine passport as part of a layered identity check. As with all ID checks, relying on one source of identification can lead to false positives, however a passport check as part of a layered approach to verification means you can check with increased confidence.

Verifying a genuine passport can be increasingly difficult when you begin to examine even UK passports - they vary by the year of release, and also by issuing territory; e.g. Jersey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar.

The Home Office Identity and Passport Office (IPS) have produced a guide to carrying out basic checks, which can be accessed here: http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/files/ips/live/assets/documents/Basic_passport_checks.pdf

Some of the advice includes checking for identifiable page marks such as the laser printed patterns (destriperf) on the latest issued documents, whether the passport stitching reacts to UV, or checking the way the photograph is printed onto the page.

But what about verifying a genuine passport online?

Online passport verification is becoming more desirable, as businesses realise that they can convert more applicants into customers by ensuring their verification process is as simple as possible. Online gaming companies frequently use passport verification to comply with money laundering regulations as well as ensuring that they’re not allowing children to gamble.  Similarly passport verification can be used by financial companies, recruiters, legal firms and indeed any ecommerce operator that has to ascertain a genuine identity.

The online verification of documents obviously cannot rely on the physical checks outlined in the IPS document, and instead they need to be built upon a layered verification approach. This might include carrying out an e-verification which includes searching the electoral roll, directory enquiries and credit reference data, before then checking a passport, and possibly another form of ID, such as a driving license or visa.

Adding additional passport verification can be as simple as entering your customer’s credentials along with the passport MRZ into 192business’ ID check solution, or for additional security we can offer you a manual checking service; where an expert will verify (or reject!) the document for you.

A genuine passport match will add increased confidence to your id check, allowing you to accept applicants and convert them to customers as efficiently as possible.

For more information please see our ID document verification page, or contact us for a demonstration.

18th February 2010