Walmart Spark delivery platform picks Persona selfie biometrics for driver verification

Walmart delivery app Spark is implementing selfie biometrics checks from Persona for drivers to cut down on incidents of individuals using identity fraud to corner the market for delivery jobs.

The delivery platform has scaled quickly, with three times more drivers than a year ago, Business Insider reports. Several drivers who spoke to Insider say that as that has happened, they have been given less orders to complete through the crowdsourced delivery app. Meanwhile, Walmart employees claim to have seen other drivers using multiple identities and multiple phones to get more work by gaming the system.

In response, Walmart is instituting identity verification through ID document photos and selfie biometrics. The Spark driver app privacy statement reveals that the technology is provided by Persona.

Previously, some stores had begun checking drivers’ physical IDs before releasing orders, but others said they were not allowed to do so. A Walmart spokesperson told Insider that the company takes reports of fraud seriously and that fraudulent accounts are deactivated whenever they are found through active monitoring.

The change seems to include not just onboarding but biometric authentication, with Insider reporting that verifications include periodic selfie requests. How frequent authentication will be required remains unclear, with reports of selfies requested for each delivery at one store early last week, and much less frequently by the end of the week.

Delivery platforms including Amazon, Uber Eats and DoorDash already use selfie biometrics and ID checks.

Persona has won several major contracts for biometric identity verification of late, the aforementioned DoorDash among them, along with online game Roblox.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  identity verification  |  Persona  |  selfie biometrics