Remote biometric IDV saves Arizona $40B: ID.me case study

Remote biometric identity verification to confirm the eligibility of individuals for Arizona Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) has saved the state billions of dollars in fraudulent payouts, according to a new case study published by ID.me.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) formed a public-private partnership with ID.me amid a dramatic increase in unemployment insurance claims prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic,

ID.me is using face biometrics from Paravision for remote facial verification, according to CNN. The report tells the story of a Colorado resident who wants to receive government assistance funds without completing automated identity verification, and the often-lengthy process necessary to opt out, but also the company’s huge growth working with states during the pandemic.

The case study recounts how the additional funds released under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) scheme drew the attention of international criminal fraud rings, and PUA claims rose from just over 77,000 in a week in mid-May to over 266,000 a week by the end of July, before peaking at more than 570,000 in a week in October.

DES partnered with Google to perform fraud analysis on the millions of claims received, which found that the “vast majority” were fraudulent, and many driven by identity theft, according to the case study.

The department turned to ID.me after assessing its NIST IAL2 unsupervised remote identity assurance and video chat capabilities, and with reference to the “massive reductions in fraudulent claims” achieved by early-adopting states like Florida, Georgia and Nevada, the company says. A week after ID.me was deployed by Arizona in early December, claims fell by over 68 percent, which according to the case study is part of a consistent pattern in which criminals quickly shift their efforts away from states implementing identity checks and biometrics from ID.me.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  case studies  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  fraud prevention  |  ID.me  |  identity verification  |  Paravision  |  remote verification