Identity theft is at an all-time high worldwide. As cybercrime and data breaches become more common, more and more people can claim identities that aren’t theirs. This allows for fraudulant activities that your business needs to be aware of.
When you think of identity theft, stolen social security numbers and credit cards may immediately come to mind. These are activities that seem to have only individual impact. However, if you’re an employer, it’s important to use identity verification to ensure the people you hire are who they say they are.
If a person seeking to commit fraud against your company finds a hole in your hiring process, he or she may be able to use a stolen identity to hide past criminal activity of the same nature or to conceal negative employment history. That’s why verifying identity before you hire is so important.
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Get Complete Information Upfront
Save time by obtaining all information from the candidate before even conducting a background check. To really verify a person’s identity, you’ll need more than just the name he or she goes by. You need to ask for a legal name, maiden name, middle name, and complete address as well.
Be honest with the person about your reason for requesting this information, and assure him or her that criminal history is not an automatic disqualifier.
Interview Face-to-Face
At the simplest level, conducting candidate interviews face-to-face can provide a layer of protection. However, this may be impractical or even impossible if you’re hiring for remote, work-from-home positions. It’s still best to conduct screenings and interviews using video conferencing software rather than over the phone.
If you’re able to have a candidate interview in your office, make sure to collect their identity documents — a driver’s licence, social security card, passport, or other equivalent — in person. This offers more verification security than receiving such documents via electronic means such as e-mail.
Use a Reliable Screening Service
There are a variety of ways that reputable screening companies perform ID verification. These can include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- social security number tracing
- background checks
- fingerprinting
- employment history verification
If you’re hiring remotely for positions outside of company headquarters, look for a company that specialises in online verification. Such services can use special software to verify a person’s identity using video, amongst other methods. To do this, artificial intelligence and real-time video may use a combination of facial recognition and machine learning to confirm that a person is who he or she claims to be.
Follow Government Guidelines
Typically, you’ll need to file certain paperwork when verifying a candidate or employee’s identity for tax purposes. This ensures that when it comes to tax reporting, your company’s data is accurate. The appropriate government agency can run a person’s self-reported information against federal databases to check that everything matches up.
This step can serve to lower your financial or legal liability in the event of fraud or tax schemes.
Be Consistent
Be a company that’s known for consistent, thorough, and reliable ID verification. Not only does this act to deter would-be identity thieves from trying to find loopholes in your process, but it also lets current employees know that you mean business.
Have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to employees claiming employment or education history that isn’t theirs. Perhaps more importantly, if you uncover a criminal past that violates company hiring policy, send the message to current and future employees that this is unacceptable by terminating the individual’s ties to the business immediately. This should serve to boost current employee confidence.
Identity theft is a huge issue that doesn’t just affect individuals. Take hefty measures to ensure it doesn’t impact your business legally, financially, or ethically.
