Identity verification

Dotfile gives you several ways to verify an individual's identity. You can mix and match the methods according to your budget, speed, conversion, and compliance requirements.

Verification methods

• Identity verification: the end user films their document and takes a video selfie. This is the most secure method, because it establishes that both the document and the person are present. We rely on providers such as Checkout, Veriff and Onfido.
• Identity document: the end user uploads a PDF or JPEG of a picture or scan of the document. Several verification and anti-fraud checks are run on it to establish authenticity. We are integrated with IDnow and Veriff for this method.
• Manual identity document: you can also collect an ID document and have your compliance analyst review it.

Starting an identity verification or an ID document check

You can start these checks from the Dotfile console — open an individual's page and click Start New Check — or from a template.

A common pattern is to use an identity verification check for the person opening the account at your firm, and a standard ID document check for beneficial owners.

Watch a video example of how to start both checks.

Results

While the verification is pending (between a few seconds and one minute), the check status is Processing. It then becomes Approved or Rejected.

Key information from the document is extracted automatically: name, date of birth, nationality, document type, and document number.

If you don't want the check to be approved or rejected automatically — for example, so you can override the decision manually — you can change that in the Settings section.

Usage over API

All these checks can be started or retrieved over the API. For an identity verification, the API responds with a URL that you pass to the end user so they can complete the verification. For an ID document, you upload the document via the API. Read more in the identity verification API guide.