Identify verification and fraud prevention company Authenticate.com today announced the launch of its Identity Verification Infrastructure as a Service that integrates photo identification and passport authentication into any application or platform.

Designed for high-risk businesses, the new service provides an easy way to integrate ID verification with optional support for facial recognition, liveness detection, knowledge quizzes and background checks. The service allows clients to onboard users, meet necessary compliance, perform enhanced due diligence, screen against money laundering and watch lists, approve underbanked and unbanked individuals, detect criminal or other derogatory data, and more.

Authenticate.com notes that identity fraud is a growing issue, with consumers reported to have lost more than $5.8 billion to fraud in the U.S. in 2021, up 70% over the previous year. With the COVID-19 pandemic driving the uptake of online services, cybercriminals have targeted digital wallets, apps, sites and services that rely on often irreversible or indisputable peer-to-peer payment methods such as Apple Pay and Zelle.

“Identity fraud is the No. 1 source of cybercrime and it’s growing rapidly,” Steve Ward, founder and chief executive officer of Authenticate.com, said in a statement. “By offering Identity Verification Infrastructure as a Service, we are doing the difficult work of securing highly sensitive data, processing it with the highest level of integrity and ensuring it is protected with the utmost security. While our customers focus on building their business, we’ll give them the picks and shovels they’ll need to dig their moats.”

The service provides support for the authentication of identity documents from 200 countries and territories worldwide. The identity verification IaaS provides coverage to peer-to-peer exchanges, two-sided marketplaces, e-commerce sites, online communities, social and professional networks, financial services, banking, cryptocurrency, cannabis, gambling and other sites.

Using Authenticate.com’s service, identity authentication can be done close to instantaneously, usually in under 20 seconds. However, the results depend on whether an expert forensic analysis of the document is necessary or an enhanced, source-level verification is required.

Authenticate.com’s verification infrastructure is already being used by clients, including Call Emmy Inc., RunnerCity Inc. and NotaryHub. Authenticate.com has grown rapidly in 2022, with its customer base going from 12 beta customers in January 2021 to more than 80 credentialed customers today. The company hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue in the third quarter of this year, up 20-fold from the previous quarter.

Image: Authenticate.com