Strengthening digital businesses with online age verification
It is projected that by the end of 2021, 2.4 billion will buy products and services online, up 46% from 2015 when 1.46 billion people made purchases online. Moreover, during current situations when the whole world is under self-imposed lockdown, people are staying home and prefer to make purchases online, more people are expected to shop online than predicted previously. This high demand landscape has made many entrepreneurs and businesses rich but also create unforeseen challenges.
As age-restricted products and services have seen a surge in demand, it has become more than important to protect minors online. The age-restricted items such as alcohol, knives, tobacco, and others are safeguarded from minors offline but what about preventing minors’ access to the same products online?
The need for online age verification has increased especially due to open access to the internet. Regulatory authorities are working to create an online environment safe by placing regulations for the online sellers of age-restricted goods. Businesses are also opting for online age verification checks to comply with regulatory authorities.
Shufti’s experts have written a whitepaper on the need for online age verification to secure minors and your business online. Download this whitepaper now.
Here’s a brief summary of the whitepaper.
A brief on age verification online
Online Age verification is a measure used to prevent access to digital products that are restricted to a certain age. Age verification systems are usually used to protect minors from accessing age-restricted content online. The examples of age-restricted content are:
1.Alcohol
2.Online dating websites
3.Online gambling and lottery platforms
4.Online gaming content that is not suitable for underage people
5.Tobacco and cannabis
6.Pharmaceutical drugs
Why is it important for businesses to know the age of the user?
Age verification is deemed necessary for the sellers of age-restricted goods and services and not having proper age verification checks may result in fines up to millions of dollars and other legal obligations. In short, it is necessary to stay up to date with recent regulatory requirements both local and global.
Businesses often implement identity verification including age verification to set age brackets a particular user falls in and by doing this they separate unnecessary users. Read the white paper to explore details of traditional checks and where they lack.
How does online age verification work?
Online age verification is performed using different methods. Some of which are:
- Self-verification checkboxes
Most online business place checkboxes for asking the user if they fulfill minimum age requirements or ask them to enter their date of birth. This is the most common type of age verification check but it isn’t much effective because minors can easily surpass this check.
- Verification using a credit card
Sometimes online stores ask for credit/debit card details by assuming that credit card companies will not issue the cards to minors. However, minors may access their parents’ credit cards to make purchases without consent. While the credit card verification checks approve the transaction as the chances are that it will be performed from the same IP and the same address. This leads to a legitimate chargeback claim which in turn leads to a loss to the business.
- Online age verification using ID documents
The process for online identity verification is as simple as uploading a picture of government-issued identity cards and a selfie to verify that the identity document belongs to the same person performing the verification. Due to sophisticated technology, this process becomes instant so that authentic buyers of legal age did not walk away due to the tiresome verification process.
Shufti’s online age verification solution
Shufti uses AI-based ID document scanning combined with 3D facial recognition to verify the identity and age of the user, taking only 15-60 seconds. Users’ can be verified by using just an ID document and a selfie.
Just a simple API integration and you’ll be all set to refrain minors from entering your platform while providing a secure and fast user onboarding experience to your legitimate customers. For more details, read the white paper to know how an investment in age verification online solution will turn to be your competitive edge and a reliable resource to fight cybercrimes.
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