Privacy has become a huge concern these days. Businesses offering age-restricted products online must deal with privacy concerns. This mostly encapsulates the kind of data they collect to verify identity and validate age of the users.
Online age verification matters for businesses to establish trust and meet regulatory compliance requirements.
Let us first understand what age verification is before we dive deep into how it works online.
What is age verification?
It is the process to ensure that the person requesting access to products or services is of legal age dictated by laws or regulations. These regulations may be in place for online services like gaming, and products such as alcohol, CBD, tobacco, vape, etc.
Conventionally, these checks were conducted in person, but with more and more services and products are now being offered online, digital age verification has taken center stage. There are several different ways for businesses to verify age and identity such as document check, facial and biometric verification, credit card checks, and more. Many companies also implement multi factor authentication (MFA) to amp up security to stay compliant and avoid fines or other damages. Whereas some such as online alcohol and cigarettes retailers may even consider opting for a verification tool or age checker app or 3rd party age verification service integrated into their system.
Let’s discuss a few methods to verify age online.
How do you check age online?
To ensure the level of assurance, various methods (alone or in combinations) are used to offer confidence in the accuracy of the result.
Age verification via document check
This is one of the most used methods by brick and mortar and online retailers to verify age. Wherein, data from the government-issued documents such as passport, driving license, etc., is extracted using technology known as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to validate it against the database.
Age verification via credit reference agencies
Users are typically required to provide their name, address, and date of birth as a part of age verification or account opening or to confirm purchase. It is then cross verified against the credit reference agency database to validate the accuracy of the details provided.
Age verification via a credit card check
An individual holding a credit card is deemed an adult over 18 as most countries only allow to issue credit card to someone over 18. However, to add the level of assurance, the business may request a small payment authorization to confirm the identity.
Age verification with biometric
This method involves recognizing the facial features, voice, fingerprint, and eyes scanning to confirm the age and identity of the user.
Age verification by vouching
In this method of verification, a person with credibility can vouch for the user’s age. The person vouching for you must know you and have an existing relationship and have also proved their own identity.
Age verification by self-declaration or attestation
Adopted by many online retailers selling age-restricted products, asks users to simply submit their age or date of birth. One of the low-security methods and easy for underage individuals to bypass authentication without any additional checking against other data sources.
‘Liveness Check’ is an add-on process used along with other verification methods to safeguard minors from inappropriate content and products. A user is required to take a photo or video which can further be compared against the photo ID document provided or previously recorded data to ensure a match.
How does age verification work online?
Age verification works online on the principle of computing algorithms and machine learning. These technology works in conjunction to ensure effective and efficient age verification.
Machine learning through NLP (Natural Language Processing) can easily identify discrepancies by scanning various elements such as texts, images, and other security features.
Online retailers dealing with alcohol, tobacco, CBD, etc., must rely on age verification app or age verification software that gives utmost priority to securing customer data and privacy. Such verification tools for online alcohol retailers must ensure that the data remains encrypted as it is sensitive and personally identifiable information (PII).
Implementing an age verification system and policy allows any business to stay compliant and it also works as a fraud prevention measure.
What to look for in online age verification software?
Age verification plays a crucial role in protecting children. Federal laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) are put in place to strengthen children’s privacy online.
Here are a few points to look for in an age verification tool for online alcohol retailers and other restricted products and content.
Check whether the age verification software is:
- User-friendly to operate?
- Seamless to integrate with your existing system or platform?
- Complying with local and federal laws?
- Keeping data secure and encrypted?
- Efficiently and effectively delivering results?
Answering the above question will help you determine your company’s age verification requirements and invest accordingly in the one that suits your needs.
Advantages of digital age verification system
Opting for robust online age verification software provides immense benefits for your customers and business.
- Staying Compliant – Age verification helps you to meet legal compliance and regulations which will avoid the risk of legal fines, penalties, and even in some cases business license can also be revoked.
- Build Trust – Securely verifying identity and age while safeguarding sensitive data storage establishes trust within your users and prompts them to use your services over your competitors.
- Builds Credibility – Keeping an online age verification system in place builds trust and your business reputation.
Wrapping Up
Businesses have various choices when it comes to adapting an online age verification app or software. They can either opt for a digital age verification system from a 3rd party vendor or can build one for themselves. The latter may turn out to be a costlier option as online retailers would have already invested in establishing the eCommerce store, inventory, marketing, and many other things.
Online alcohol, tobacco, and other retailers do not wish to limit their services, products, etc., to a specific region and hence, it is advisable for them to go with a 3rd party vendor who specializes in online age verification tools. Ensure that the one you take services from delivers optimal customer service for seamless operation in case you face any trouble.
Try to opt for one that covers maximum document types, takes the shortest time to verify and validate the age and identity, and offers services across countries. Ultimately, look for an identity verification partner that complements your business growth while building trust with users.
