Manual ID Verification Is Breaking Your Business. Here’s What to Do.

By Christian Kündig - Director of Product Management

Manual identity verification methods have barely changed for thousands of years, even as fraud and technologies have advanced. The Babylonians used clay tiles to log citizen data as early as 4,000 BC, and Roman soldiers carried bronze “diplomas” to prove citizenship. By 1920, the League of Nations had floated the idea of standardized paper passports.

Every era had a new material, but the basic workflow never changed: look at a document, decide if it's real, and determine whether the person holding it is the owner.

In many instances, this still applies today, whether it’s an airline agent inspecting a passport or a delivery driver checking a date of birth.

But today, these manual identity checks are falling apart. Thousands of identity document formats exist worldwide, and many countries are moving to digital technologies like smart cards and biometrics. On top of that, fraud is becoming more sophisticated, and regulators are raising the bar on compliance requirements.

We’re not living in the Roman Empire. Here’s why you need to build an automated ID verification process for the 21st century rather than stick with a manual throwback.

Five questions to help you understand why manual ID checks are failing you

1. Why can’t humans detect fake IDs any more?

Today, anyone with a laptop can generate a fake ID. ChatGPT can generate a convincing identity document in minutes. Fraudsters don’t need a print shop anymore, just a template and some freely available technology to spoof fonts, holograms, barcodes, watermarks, and signatures.

Fraudsters, emboldened by new technologies and systemic vulnerabilities, are getting faster, smarter and better able to scale their crimes. Deepfakes and realtime social engineering are no longer fringe tactics; they’re mainstream tools in fraudsters’ playbooks.

Experian’s 2025 U.S. Identity and Fraud Report

At the same time, your staff are verifying identity under increasing pressure. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screens millions of passengers a day, and an Amazon driver delivers one package every 88 seconds on average.

Asking employees to validate whether IDs are real or fake correctly under demanding conditions like these is impossible.

2. Why is accuracy across ID formats harder to maintain?

Hundreds of ID formats exist across global regions, and more variants pop up from reissued or redesigned documents. Humans simply can’t keep up.

Take the example of California’s F.L.A.G. system for checking identification, which stands for Feel, Look, Ask questions, and Give back. The guidance for “Feel” asks workers to check for physical things like card rigidity, smooth edges, and bumps.

What’s the likelihood of verifying all these aspects accurately across all types of legally acceptable identification defined by the state:

• California REAL ID, driver license, and identification cards.
• Out-of-state driver license and identification cards.
• U.S. military identification.
• U.S. and any foreign passport with photographs.

3. Why can’t today’s businesses scale manual ID verification processes?

Every time you enter a new market or launch a new service, your ID verification workflow risks breaking customer experience, employee satisfaction, and revenue goals.

Every geography has its document types, physical characteristics, and security features that employees must learn. Every new regulation means re-training. And adding more people will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns.

And if your growth plan includes rolling out new digital channels or experiences, they’ll never be consistent with analog ID checks. ID verification in the digital age needs to scale with the rest of your architecture.

4. How is compliance getting tougher?

Governments are adding requirements for systems to support machine-readable zones (MRZ), barcode validation, tamper checks, and audit logs. If you’re operating across regions, selling regulated goods, or facing travel regulations, you need digital ID verification that can keep up.

For example, the upcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) requires:

• Verification of machine-readable passports.
• Technology and procedures to transmit the captured data for verification to the carrier interface before departure.

If your ID verification process can’t validate these features or log every check, you’re already behind.

5. Why does digital-everything change the game for ID verification?

We’ve trained customers to expect digital experiences, instant feedback, and low-friction transactions. Then we ask them to hand over a license and wait for someone to check it out. The mismatch is obvious.

If your ID verification process isn’t part of that evolution, it may be the weakest link in your customer experience. We ask frontline workers to decide what’s on the ID, whether it’s real, and whether this person owns it, then give them seconds to figure it out before the next customer.

The math doesn’t work.

Why automated ID verification solutions work better

Automated ID verification is faster, smarter, and more accurate from the ground up.

Advanced ID scanning technologies combine smart device cameras with computer vision techniques — all on-device, in real time, and with no manual intervention.

The result is more consistent checks with less time, less training, and less room for fraud.

Unlocks new revenue streams

I’ve seen customers use automated ID scanning software to open up new revenue opportunities that were previously inaccessible or too risky.

For example:

• Selling age-restricted goods and services online (e.g., cannabis dispensaries) by validating IDs at checkout.
• Enabling retail self-checkout or curbside pickup with confidence.
• Collecting airline passenger information well before departure enables more passengers to use online check-in, reducing costs and delays at the airport.

The identity proofing process becomes part of the platform rather than a manual exception case.

Works on everyday smart devices

You don’t need specialized scanners or expensive hardware upgrades. Modern identity verification solutions run on iOS and Android devices, with some supporting web-based applications. With the right SDK, you can deploy to employees and customers without changing your hardware footprint.

When identity documents or regulations change, only your ID scanning software has to update, not your people.

Security is built in … but it depends

Most automated ID scanning software offers cybersecurity protections, but don’t assume they’re guaranteed. Some solutions claim privacy compliance without backing it up.

Ask how the software handles personally identifiable information (PII), where and how it processes data, and whether it aligns with your compliance obligations. Look for recognizable security certifications (such as ISO 27001), too, as independent validation builds trust.

How hard is it to integrate automated ID verification?

Upgrading to automated ID verification doesn’t require a lot of time or advanced expertise. ID scanning SDKs exist now to integrate identity checks into your app or mobile workflows quickly.

You don’t need experts on every identity document to build decoding algorithms or extensive training to bring users up to speed.

We wanted the flexibility to do mobile scanning in the mobile app and from the website, Scandit provided exactly that with SDKs that added high-quality barcode scanning to both platforms and enabled OCR in our mobile app.

Fredrik Buxfeldt, Head of Digital Operations IT, SAS

Your biggest challenge is to stop treating identity checks as someone else’s problem – the front desk, the delivery driver, and the store associate will keep doing what they’re doing. It’s part of your product mandate and deserves the same attention as a differentiating feature.

If you’re serious about improving processes and opening new opportunities, automated ID verification deserves a proper spot on your roadmap.