Updated on: June 5, 2024
In this recent SafetyDetectives interview, we sat down with Abhishek Kumar, Vice President of Strategy Partnerships at SurePass.io, to delve into the company’s innovative approach to digital identity verification. Kumar shares the inspiring journey behind SurePass’s founding and how the company has revolutionized the KYC process, reducing verification times from days to mere minutes. He also discusses the types of fraud SurePass helps prevent, the challenges businesses face in implementing digital identity verification, and the evolving demand for these services. Additionally, Kumar provides insights into the latest trends in the digital identity space and how SurePass is leveraging AI to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Can you introduce yourself and talk about your role at SurePass?
My name is Abhishek Kumar, and I represent SurePass. I have been working here for the last four years. Currently, I am the Vice President of Strategy Partnerships, where I lead strategic partnerships with banks, NBFCs, and other firms.
What inspired the founding of SurePass, and how does it address the evolving digital identity landscape?
SurePass was founded around six years ago. We officially registered the company five years ago, but we started working on it six years ago. At that time, the founders were fresh out of college and applying for jobs, which required submitting documents and undergoing verification processes. The KYC (Know Your Customer) and verification process was manual and took seven to ten days. We saw an opportunity to solve this problem.
At that time, some companies reduced verification time from seven to ten days to three days, which was impressive. However, we discovered a way to reduce this time from three days to three minutes. Today, we have over 2,000 clients globally, including banks, NBFCs, telecoms, e-commerce partners, and more. We enable them to complete their onboarding journey in just a few minutes, compared to the previous seven to eight days.
Can you share insights into the most common types of fraud SurePass helps prevent?
One recent example involves life insurance companies. People were creating fake death certificates to claim insurance money. For instance, if someone died on May 5th, they would take out an insurance policy on May 7th or 8th, create a fake death certificate, and then claim the insurance money. This increased the settlement ratio significantly. We developed an in-house solution that helps insurance companies verify the legitimacy of death certificates by connecting with state and central departments.
Another example is with ride-hailing companies like Ola and Uber. Fraudsters used fake IDs to onboard as drivers, receive cars, and then disappear, selling the cars on the black market. Our solutions help prevent these types of fraud across various industries, including insurance, ride-hailing, and cryptocurrencies.
What challenges do businesses face in implementing digital identity verification?
Businesses, especially banks, are governed by strict regulations and often have outdated technology. Implementing digital identity verification in-house can take years. SurePass offers plug-and-play services with APIs that can be integrated in less than a day if the tech is fast enough.
Large organizations often struggle to find the right department responsible for verification, perform proper QA, and conduct necessary case studies. They might hire consultancies, which can take months to provide solutions. In contrast, SurePass has extensive experience with over 2,000 clients, allowing us to offer tailored solutions quickly and efficiently.
How has the demand for digital identity and income verification services changed in recent years?
The demand has grown significantly. Initially, there was skepticism about the legality and acceptance of digital verification by regulatory bodies. However, as these solutions gained acceptance, the demand surged, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when physical verification was not possible. Currently, digital identity verification has become a pull product, with banks and NBFCs actively seeking our solutions. We recently participated in the UAE FinTech Festival, where we saw a huge potential for our verification services.
What trends do you foresee in the digital identity space, and how is SurePass preparing for these?
AI is both a boon and a challenge. Fraudsters are using AI to create better fake IDs and deepfakes, making it harder to detect fraud. However, SurePass is also leveraging AI to improve our anti-fraud measures. Previously, developing models for OCR and verification took years, but now, with AI, we can do it in weeks. Automation is another growing trend. For example, insurance companies are using our OCR technology to parse documents in minutes, significantly reducing manual labor and increasing efficiency. We are focused on helping enterprises automate their processes and reduce manual workforce while enhancing efficiency.