Online dating site integrates ID verification tech
12 December, 2013
category: Digital ID
The majority of online dating sites are based on the honor system: put up your own photo and use your real identity. But as cat fishing and other fraudsters are cropping up at least one dating site is starting to vet the identity of its users. Cat fishing is a term used to describe individuals who create fake profiles on dating and social networking sites to pose as another, often unknowing, person.
Online dating site TangoWire has integrated BeehiveID, an ID verification technology that uses social network analysis and biometric face matching. The system combs through social network data to find patterns real people have and fraudulent accounts do not. TangoWire customers can get an identity score in real time, and be assured that their online identity is protected.
TangoWire members have the option of whether they want to participate in the identity verification function, says Mary Haskett, founder of BeehiveID. Users need a Facebook account to be verified and can click on a button that will enable BeehiveID to check the profile.
TangoWire members are using the verification technology too. “Trust is a key issue to our customers,” said Bryan Brown, CEO of TangoWire. “Since we launched BeehiveID, we’ve seen a 21% increase in the number of members participating in the verification process. This is significant because it clearly demonstrates that trust has a substantial impact on participation. We’ve also seen a 30% increase in the number of subscribers who are being successfully verified.”
BeehiveID’s algorithm checks to make sure the Facebook profile is legitimate. It checks the history of that profile, number of friends, likes, comments and other data to make sure it’s not a fake profile. “One of the nice thing about Facebook is it created a time-based history,” says Alex Kilpatrick, founder at CTO at BeehiveID. “You can create fake profiles but you can’t create a long history on those profiles.”
BeehiveID provides a scoring system that gives users a measure of confidence backed by genuine, unique individuals. Like a credit score, the BeehiveID score is a measure of how confident a person is who they claim to be. A low score – 400 — is a bot or fake account. A high score – 850 — means the account reflects a real person.
TangoWire is checking Facebook but BehiveID can check other social network profiles, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. TangoWire users also just see ther BehiveID score and not the users’ personal information.
The BeehiveID identity score can be customized to a variety of use cases, validating a weak identity claim: “I am not a bot” all the way to a specific person: “I am John Smith who lives at 123 Main Street in Austin, Texas.”
BeehiveID can be integrated by adding a button on sites and providing a callback function to provide a score or it can be integrated as a back-end service, or via an API call.