Episode Transcript
Charles Goldberg: Hello and welcome to the first episode of season 2 of the Intellicheck podcast. This is the show where we delve into the news and issues around identity verification, identity fraud, and the tools needed to combat it. I'm Charles Goldberg, and I'm happy to be the guest host for the kickoff episode of season 2. Today we will discuss the recently released inaugural Intellicheck North America Identity Verification Threat Report. This week we have our regular guest and the big man himself, Bryan Lewis, the CEO of Intellicheck. Welcome, Bryan.
Bryan Lewis: Thanks, Charles, and looking forward to the conversation.
Charles Goldberg: So, I reviewed the report ahead of this interview. It's very interesting to see how you analyze roughly 100 million identity verifications performed by Intellicheck in 2025 and shared the fail rates for your customers across so many industries and subcategories. So my question is, amazing data, but why are you sharing it now?
Bryan Lewis: Look, I think it's good data so that people can understand how widespread identity theft is and continues to grow, right? And you know, you look at that number and it's about half the adult population going through our system. So it's pretty comprehensive data. And you know, I think it also helps, potentially, some of our customers to figure out where they might be missing a chance to stop fraud, and for anybody who's reading it to realize where they might become victims of identity theft and fraud.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah, that makes sense. And that's pretty amazing to cover half the US and Canadian adult population. So this is a very high quality data set — really gives us a tremendous sample group of all demographics. So it makes this highly valuable. But one thing I couldn't help but notice is the wide variation in the percentage of failed identity verifications across all those different industries. So it isn't surprising that alcohol retail is a whopping 15.1%. I think most of our listeners could relate to that from sometime in our lives.
Bryan Lewis: Yeah.
Charles Goldberg: But more interesting is the difference between say fintech and banks — 2.4% and 1.7% respectively. A 40% difference. So two-part question here. First, help our audience understand why measuring failed identity verification rates is important. And then second, let us know why there's such a stark difference between fintech and banks.
Bryan Lewis: Yeah. So let's start by determining what a failed rate means. Right. What that means is that when we look at a driver's license, or a state issued ID coming from the DMV — the two most common forms of identity support that people use — when we scan that driver's license, we have unique knowledge about the barcode. So when we say it fails, it means it does not meet the exact specifications for that barcode for that jurisdiction on that date of issuance. And that's important because the documents that are being created by the bad guys — AI is making it so it's really hard to look at it and know it's not fake. And you can easily create a barcode that's going to pass, but you can't create a barcode that's going to be the barcode say for New York State issued in 2023. They just can't do that.
And then, you know, I'd also say there are differences in rates of failure because of the access method, right? Most fintechs tend to be online, and online is a much easier vector for fraud because you're not standing in front of the person. So it's easier to spoof, and oftentimes less secure tests are done on that. Whereas if you walk into a bank, think about how many cameras are around — you're photographed from 12 different angles probably — and it amazes me that people will continue to go in branch and try to perpetuate fraud, but it happens all the time, as you can see. And you know, the other thing is it might sound like small percentages, but they're large numbers, so the fraud adds up quickly.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah. And of course when it's digital, you're not limited to someone in the neighborhood trying to commit fraud. People could be anywhere in the world targeting your online presence. And I noticed in the report that the retail online-only banks — so those digital-first banks with no brick and mortar — their identity failure rates were at 5.5%. So really high because their doors are open to the entire world.
Bryan Lewis: Like, you hit the nail on the head, right? This is generally organized crime and it's often organized crime overseas, and it is very easy to have somebody with bots and AI just hitting a bunch of online fintechs, banks, whatever it is, to try and get in. Pretending to be somebody else, because remember, this data is so cheap. Think of how many breaches there were — I think 2025 set a new record for the amount of data that was breached. So all of our information is out there for sale. The cheapest thing is buying the data. The more expensive thing is buying the fake ID, which is not all that expensive — in bulk they're about 40 bucks. So it makes it really easy for these people to do it. They're far away, they're not going to get arrested, and they get the money. And if you find out that it was fraud, nobody can go after them.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah, that totally makes sense. So let's talk about another part of finance which is also a big target for fraud. I know that many of the largest credit card issuers who back those retail branded credit cards — that we all get to get the discount that day — trust Intellicheck for identity verification. And it's eye-opening to see how the top 10 retail segments by failure rates experience different levels of fraud attempts, with arts and crafts leading the list at 5% and outdoor recreation closing the top 10 at 1.6%. So can you share your thoughts on credit card issuers and their relationships with their retail partners?
Bryan Lewis: Yeah, you know, certainly what we know from our customers is there's a spread between how much fraud and risk each side takes on, right? What does the retailer eat of the loss? Is it all the bank? Is it spread? Is it based on account lookup or is it new issuance? So I think part of it depends on who's taking the fraud hit and how often they're going to take any kind of application in. And also, I think fraudsters talk — and we see it on the dark web. They know where to go. They know where to try. We see them say, "Don't go here. You're not going to be able to break in" — oftentimes talking about some of our customers. And then the other thing too is, what's the value that you can get, and how much credit might be issued, and what's the average demographic of the person and their income level at that particular retailer.
So they're going to go after places where there's generally higher credit given. And you know, there's two ways to think about what they're going to do when they look — there's the new account opening, but then there's also the account takeover. And you know, what I've always told people is, new account opening, you can stop that by putting a hold on your credit reports. But that doesn't stop an account takeover, because all they're doing is going in and saying, "Hey, I'm Bryan Lewis, I forgot my credit card, but I want my points. Can you look me up?" And they ask for the driver's license, look at it, and enter some stuff in if they're not using us. And because it doesn't require a credit pull, it'll go through. Now, we stop both, because when we scan that license, we're going to say, "This is a fake. It really isn't Bryan Lewis." So even if you don't have that credit hold put on, we're going to stop it and you won't become a victim of that account takeover fraud.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah, that totally makes sense. And you can't just trust a retailer to look at a driver's license nowadays and say, "Oh yeah, you look like you," because it's just so easy to make an ID that looks like you but has someone else's name on it, right?
Bryan Lewis: That barrier has been — and what I'd say is, you know, I lived in New Jersey for 33 years plus.
Charles Goldberg: My condolences.
Bryan Lewis: Yeah. And I have to say that because I'm from New York.
Charles Goldberg: Okay, there you go.
Bryan Lewis: And uh, yeah, but I love the Garden State. So, I worked in the city for the same 33 years. I couldn't tell you what a New York driver's license looked like. So how is the clerk at a retailer in New York going to know what a Jersey license or a Connecticut license or a Nebraska license looks like? Let alone some other state. And given that big retailers are everywhere — you get a Home Depot credit card, it's going to work in every Home Depot. And if you don't carry your card and you want to look it up, it's going to work in any state. So I feel sorry for the retail clerks because they're not trained. It's one of the reasons so many law enforcement agencies use us — because their trained law enforcement officers can't tell them apart, because AI is making the documents so realistic. The naked eye can't figure it out.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah. And if law enforcement agents use Intellicheck to check IDs because the training at this point can't make visual checks as reliable — look, there's no way a cashier, with all they've got, all these fakes — I got fakes from my own state and I look at them and I'm like, I can't tell them apart. And I look at them all the time. Someone who doesn't, it's an uphill battle they can't win.
Bryan Lewis: Yeah, makes sense.
Charles Goldberg: So, switching gears a little, because much of the report is about financial fraud attempts — insurance, you know, the kind of first things that come to most of our minds when we think about fraud and identity fraud. But you had something very interesting at the end of the report that really caught my eye — a very interesting analysis on password resets. That's quite a different field compared to the rest. So can you tell us about that?
Bryan Lewis: Look, what they figured out is, you know, if I get control of say your email account, I now control your whole life. If you think about almost everything that happens — if you want to do a password reset, they're going to send that reset to your email account, right? So I can change your bank account, your investment account, passwords on your social media — all sorts of passwords that can both ruin your life but also drain your bank account. So it is a quick and easy way to get in and then perform a ton of account takeover, and you're not going to know, because I've got your email, the resets are coming to me, I'm resetting the passwords, and now I'm logging into everything that you have. And it's kind of simple for them because they can search and see where you bank and where you do these things. And if not, even all that stuff is pretty much for sale online. So it's sort of like the wholesale marketplace for them to perform account takeover.
So people are realizing that you need to do more and you need stronger protection than you currently have. And you know, even with MFA and other things — we've certainly seen plenty of times that somebody goes into a store to get a new telephone, they're not proven who they are, and it's a basic SIM swap. And now even with that phone I can control things and say, "Oh, I forgot my password" — to my email or whatever — and reset it all right there. And then even two-factor isn't going to work, because now I've got the phone number so everything is going to come to me as well.
So when I look at this, I think it just proves to everybody — and where everybody should be getting a little bit worried — is it used to be that identity theft was really about, how do I get instant money and take over your credit card or your bank account? But there are so many other places now where you've got to be careful, and people do need to start proving who's who. Email, the amount of houses sold out from under other people, the amount of cars bought in other people's names — high ticket items that you wouldn't think of. But the crooks are always evolving and figuring out where they can get the easiest buck as fast as possible.
Charles Goldberg: Yeah. I mean, as you're telling me this, where my mind went was — if I could reset the password and own your bank account, I'm going to assume that you're going to use that same email on many other accounts. Let's pick Amazon or, you know, whoever. And I'm going to try that, and if I get into that account, it might use multi-factor authentication. And often, what happens? They're going to send me an email with a verification number. But now I know your email. So I'm going to paste that verification number into the other account. And they always give you multiple choices, and they pick the one that they control, and now they've skirted multi-factor.
Bryan Lewis: So yes — or think of social media. I take over your account and the reputational damage that I could do, or I build with your network when they think I'm you.
Charles Goldberg: Yep. Interesting. Absolutely. And it's other things too — I always like to point out that our CTO's niece is a nurse and somebody impersonated her in a different state to get a nursing job. So you've got to look at employment now, which we're doing a lot of business in, because people need to know — are you really the person that you say you are? And particularly in this remote environment. One of the things we didn't put in this study, but we do track, is what we're doing on employment and how often those are fake, and it's a surprisingly large number.
Charles Goldberg: I'm not surprised. I mean, you read about it all the time — especially in this remote world, how you have people in all kinds of countries applying for jobs. And sometimes they're just people looking to make money, but a lot of times they are spies — people working for a nation state trying to get into intellectual property. So they're creating perfect resumes for remote jobs. I entirely believe that.
All right, one last question. How could someone who's responsible for fraud or security at their company use this report?
Bryan Lewis: I think they can almost benchmark themselves — compare what they're seeing to what we're seeing in this report. And the reason I say that is, we are very highly accurate at what we do. It's why law enforcement uses us. So what are your numbers compared to this? And if you're not catching as much, you can look at what fraud you're seeing afterwards. I think it's important to look at all the different ways you could be building the tools to fight fraud. And since we do it in an entirely different way than almost anybody else in the space doing ID validation, look at those numbers, compare to yourself, and then see what we're doing differently. That's what I'd say. I'm always looking to find out what's new and different that I should be using, and I think anybody who's in this space — fraudsters are evolving all the time — so everybody needs to make sure they're looking at every tool out there so they know they have all the right arrows in their quiver.
Charles Goldberg: That's really valuable advice. Thank you. Well, that's all the time we have for today. My guest on the Intellicheck podcast has been Intellicheck CEO Bryan Lewis, and we've been discussing the new Intellicheck North America Identity Verification Threat Report. Be sure to check out the show notes in the description where you'll find a link to download the full report. And I highly recommend that you download it and, as Bryan recommended, compare yourself to your peers and see how you're doing. And if it's different, be curious — is it different because it's legitimately different, or is it different because maybe you're not capturing all the fraud that's coming your way? You know, too many false positives or false negatives — you're just missing the detection of all the fake IDs that are out there. And I'm sure Bryan's team would be happy to help with an analysis at your organization.
Bryan Lewis: We would love to do that. Yes.
Charles Goldberg: So that's all for this week. Thank you for listening to the Intellicheck podcast and stay safe.
