Berbix at Fintech Nexus USA 2022

At this year’s Fintech Nexus conference, Eric Levine, the CEO and co-founder of Berbix, was part of a panel talking about how you can deter fraudsters while protecting the privacy of customers– all without using your entire budget.

In case you missed it, here are three key takeaways from the panel:

Onboarding shouldn't be a burden

The onboarding process is a key part of deterring potential fraudsters. After all, onboarding is often the first line of defense, so to speak, that your business will have against would-be bad actors. If the onboarding process is too simple, folks with more nefarious intentions could join your platform and defraud your existing users and your business. On the other hand, create an onboarding experience that’s too difficult and you’ll frustrate legitimate users– potentially turning them away and impeding your growth.

There are many different ways to have a new user verify their identity during onboarding. Most businesses require their users to authenticate their identity through their email or phone number. For businesses selling age-restricted goods– or those that require a more secure approach– users will need to verify their identity with their government-issued ID in order to gain access to the service.

Making sure you’re not overburdening your users is simpler than it may sound. If you’re using a document ID verification solution, for example, an onboarding process that introduces too much friction is one that takes hours to verify a new user’s government-issued ID and selfie. One that strikes a good balance is an automated and instant document ID verification software solution that lets the user know immediately if their ID and selfie is accepted or rejected, and why– giving them a chance to retake the images before they’ve already gone through the entire onboarding flow.

Utilize available data

Businesses don’t need to sink thousands of dollars into multiple tools and databases in order to protect themselves and their users from fraudsters. It’s possible to create and maintain fraud deterrent processes utilizing only the data provided on a user’s government-issued ID and selfie that they share during onboarding. 

Businesses that make fraud deterrence a priority can protect their users and assets by leveraging even the most minimal data to verify someone’s online identity. For example, most ID verification software solutions only need images of someone’s government-issued ID– such as a license, passport, or state ID– and their real-time selfie in order to verify their identity. Many of these solutions are very successful in not only deterring fraud, but also catching it when fraudsters do attempt access. And in cases of known fraudsters, this information can be securely shared with other nearby locations and businesses to help keep business assets safe.

Make privacy a priority

By nature, verifying someone’s identity means you’ll be handling an individual’s most personal information. Therefore, it’s important to be upfront with your users about what data you’re collecting, how you’ll use it, and how long it’ll be stored. The best organizations are those that make privacy a priority and empower their users to have full control over their data.

Emphasizing user privacy and having a written, accessible version of your privacy policy that users can access before signing up for your services doesn’t mean that your business will expose itself to vulnerabilities. Security and privacy don’t exist in separate vacuums, and strong privacy policies can give potential users more trust in your brand while simultaneously discouraging bad actors from targeting your business.

TLDR

• Don't overburden your users during onboarding
• Utilize available data
• Use technology to do more with the data you have
• Be upfront with users about what data you’re using and how you're using it

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Interested in learning more about how to protect your business and customers from fraud? Check out the Berbix experience here: https://www.berbix.com/berbix-experience.