Identity Verification Is the Next Step in Stopping Fraud from the Start

We wanted to truly solve fraud for title companies when we set out to build CertifID.

We’ve always been guided by a security product development principle called Secure by Design. I discussed this concept during our Live Wire conference last year, and it has resonated with customers in many ways. We’ve had fruitful conversations about embedding this mindset into title operations and how CertifID can help. 

Identity is an example of how Secure by Design can help lead the way.

The industry needs better identity verification

Seller impersonation hit the industry hard starting early last year—and it hasn’t slowed. In a recent survey, CertifID found that 77% of real estate professionals saw an increase in this type of fraud in their businesses. 

CertifID already included identity verification as part of our Confirm and Collect features. However, our customers needed a new way to perform identity verification much earlier. They needed to do so more conveniently for partners and clients to prevent seller impersonation and other types of fraud that show up much earlier in the process. And CertifID wanted to make sure that what we rolled out solved the problem.

Introducing CertifID Match

I’m thrilled to announce that the new CertifID Match feature is now available. The feature will roll out to customers starting this week. In our estimation, today's ID validation tools aren’t closing the fraud entry points that lead to seller impersonation. We aimed to answer some of the biggest questions in identity verification for your organization’s procedures, including: 

• How confident is your team in spotting a fake ID?
• How do you know a property owner’s identity hasn’t been stolen and sold on the dark web?
• Can you be sure that red flags in a money mule’s cover story will get uncovered during the closing process?
• Are your real estate agent partners enabled to help spot these frauds before they come to you?

CertifID Match is designed to close these types of risks that show up earlier than the industry has previously seen. A potential seller or any party in a transaction can now complete an identity verification process in just seconds from anywhere, with a government-issued ID and smartphone. And with Match you can generate a shareable link so that your real estate agent and realtor partners can leverage you even more closely as another line of defense in preventing fraud.

For additional perspective, hear a fascinating case that my co-founder Tom Cronkright recently shared about how these threats can play out in a seller impersonation scam. 

Creating the new standard

Our aim is to make verifying identities part of every transaction, preventing fraud and keeping all parties safe. With an identity verification solution that is consumer-friendly, designed for title and real estate, and with security at the forefront, we hope to take a big step forward in establishing this level of security as the standard in the industry.

This is just the beginning. We’ll keep improving our products so that fraud prevention becomes woven more seamlessly into this industry, one new feature at a time. I can’t wait for you to try Match.