IDscan Gets Patent In US For Tech To Verify Faces On Documents

IDscan, the unit of GBG, has been granted a U.S. patent for Visage, which is a way of verifying the facial component of a passport or ID card.

In a press release, GBG said the technology does the checking against a databank of faces that have been rounded up from fake, forged and otherwise compromised documents. The company said that, while documents, names and signatures can be easy to forge, facial documents are much harder to fake.

“The production of fake documents is an industry all of its own now,” commented Tamlyn Thompson, MD of IDscan, in the press release announcing the patent. “IDscan has always strived to stay one step ahead of the criminals to ensure that our global customers are properly protected. Our authentication software has removed vast numbers of fake documents from circulation; however, the determined and well-financed fraudster will simply acquire a replacement within days. The fraudster’s new document may have completely new credentials, but one element will stay the same: the photograph. That’s why we have developed a facial recognition system which catalogues these ‘fake faces’ and allows the IDscan system to cross-check the new identity document provided against this catalogue. If we find a match, the customer is alerted in less than a second.”

IDscan was bought by GBG in June 2016 and provides document authentication and facial recognition solutions to banks, airlines, government departments and retailers across the world. “This patent gives GBG and IDscan the go-ahead to focus on this important area. We need to stop fraudsters from simply moving from one organization to the next simply by creating a new identity document. Document forgery is a sophisticated business. We will be able to extend protection to our customers by recognizing a known fraudster’s face wherever they choose to use it,” said Nick Brown, group managing director at GBG, in the same press release.