Yoti Pushes EasyID for Peer-to-Peer Identity Verification

Yoti is highlighting the utility of the Post Office EasyID app in peer-to-peer interactions. In doing so, the company noted that peer-to-peer interactions often carry a higher risk of fraud, if only because those interactions are subject to less scrutiny than interactions with larger businesses in regulated industries. For example, people who are trying to buy something secondhand often have no way of knowing if they are working with a legitimate seller, or with a fraudster who is peddling a stolen product.

However, Yoti and the Post Office EasyID app give individuals and small businesses a way to verify the identity of the other party. After creating an account, a user can open the app and then select the specific details they would like to share. That swap can take place through text, email, or in-person, and will only take place if both parties agree to the exchange.

For consumers, EasyID is appealing because it gives them more control over their personal information. Traditional IDs like driver’s licenses usually have sensitive details like address and date of birth. EasyID, on the other hand, can limit the swap to a name and a photo, and end users still enjoy a high level of trust because the Post Office is vouching for the rest of the information in each user’s account. As a result, each party in a peer-to-peer interaction can move forward with confidence that their counterpart is in fact who they claim to be.

Yoti identified dating apps and pet purchases as some of the most obvious use cases for the technology. In the case of a dating app, people who meet online can perform a quick swap to make sure no one is getting catfished before they try to meet up in person. Dog breeders, meanwhile, are often small business owners, and are competing with criminals who will steal dogs to resell to a credulous public. EasyID lets them verify a buyer’s identity without needing to fill in any extra paperwork or holding personal information that could get lost or stolen.

Yoti has already provided identity verification services for The Meet Group and DateID. The company launched the EasyID app in collaboration with the Post Office in August, and they have since followed that up with the release of a physical PASS identity card.

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November 10, 2021 – by Eric Weiss