When in doubt, ReadID offers dependability

CBR employees are professionally trained at the DOC1 level, the level of the Dutch Border Police. They can properly identify a person and recognise identity fraud. Still, not all types of identity fraud are visible to the naked eye. That’s why when identifying candidates for theory and practice exams, CBR employees ran into various problems because the authenticity of the documents is sometimes debatable. To solve this problem, Tjitse van den Bos, Corporate Security Manager at CBR, was looking for additional support: A tool that can take away employees' doubts when they are not certain whether an identity document is authentic or not.

Challenges

More than 800,000 exams are taken each year at the CBR. Unfortunately, some people try to commit identity fraud, for instance by replacing a passport photo on the identity document or by applying in the name of a family member. Correct verification of an identity along with the related document is therefore extremely important at the CBR.

In addition, desk employees are confronted with low-quality residence cards. The photos are often not clearly visible, making it more difficult for the employee to perform a face-to-face identity verification.

The professional exams at CBR take place at different locations. Therefore, the examiners can't have all the necessary verification tools at hand. A desk employee, for instance, has access to some physical aids such as a retro check: a device that produces UV light to scan the document for authenticity. An examiner at CBR then must rely on their own capabilities to identify identity fraud.

“A user-friendly and flexible way to prevent identity fraud”

Tjitse van den Bos learned about the use of NFC for identity document verification in a police magazine. He immediately contacted the IT department of the Dutch Police and recognised that the CBR’s problem could be solved with the same application as the ReadID used by the Dutch Police. CBR uses the client-only variant of ReadID. When an employee doubts the identity of a person or the authenticity of an identity document, they use ReadID to verify the document.

When using it at the desk or on location, ReadID gives a clear picture of the photo on the residence card. Even though the quality of this photo is no longer clearly visible on the card itself, it becomes visible on the desk employee's phone after scanning the chip in the document, allowing for trustworthy face-to-face verification. The app has benefits for the examiners as well. It is a user-friendly app, and the verification is reliable and can be applied quickly on location.

Colleagues teach each other how it works and do not need separate training. In this respect, the app is a great addition to the current knowledge that all employees already have. Another advantage is that the app has the CBR logo to create trust and that it is accessible on company phones only. ReadID does not store data on the company phones. This way, the completed scans cannot be misused, a form of privacy by design. 

Using the app gives CBR employees a certain amount of assurance. There are always documents in circulation that require an extra check. This means that employees can rely on ReadID to support their expert view. 

CBR employees have identified a few cases where look-a-likes tried to fool them. The ReadID app confirmed the employees' doubts. The candidates were unable to take the exam and the case was turned over to the police.

CBR is very open on the importance of identification to candidates. Fraud always leads to prosecution, possibly to community service or a suspended sentence. ReadID gives the right support to CBR to give confidence to their identity verification.