Verify an identity electronically

Updated 3 weeks ago by Ainsley

Run the check
Reading the results

Use the Electronic identity check to verify an individual's identity, address, or tax status by matching the individual in various electronic sources (e.g. electoral rolls and national identity registers) to establish a digital paper trail.

You can also verify an individual's identity, address, or tax status using an identification document. Learn more about the ID verification check.

Run the check

Go to a profile's Verify identity, Verify address, or Verify tax status task.
Click Electronic identity check. The check results are returned.

Reading the results

How the check works

When this check is run, the individual's details are searched in the data provider's sources.

The smart policy rules determine which details must be matched for the source to contribute to the overall result of the check.

For example, the smart policy may specify that only sources where the individual's date of birth is matched can contribute to the result.

Examples of sources include electoral rolls, credit databases, national identity registers, and telephone directories. The sources used for your check depend on your data provider, and they may vary per jurisdiction. Speak to your data provider to learn more.

See which details were used to run the check

The individual's details which were sent to the data provider are displayed under Information used to run this check.

Get the overall result of the check

When the check is finished running, the first thing to note is the overall result.

The overall result can be:

2+2: The individual's details were matched in at least two sources.
1+1: The individual's details were matched in one source.
Fail: The individual's details were not matched.

The reason for the overall result is also displayed below.

In the example above, the reason is: "Matches name and address, plus name and DOB". This means a match for the individual's name and address was discovered in one source, and a match for the individual's name and date of birth was discovered in a second source.

LexisNexis Instant ID does not return the number of sources, so a full match or partial match is returned instead of 1+1 and 2+2 results.

Remember that the smart policy specifies which matches can contribute to the overall result. For example, if the smart policy specifies that the individual's date of birth must be matched, the overall result will be Fail if there are only matches for the individual's name and address.

See which rules are in use

To see all the rules that the smart policy would accept for the overall result, click See all rules.

Rules have the following elements:

Name: The name of the rule. This corresponds to the details that must be matched in the sources.
Result: The overall result that is achieved if the requirements of the rule are met.
Required matches: Which of the individual's details must be matched for the requirements of the rule to be met. If there are details on two separate lines, it means the first set of details must be matched in one source and the second set of details must be matched in another.
Allowed sources: Which types of sources can be used for the rule.
Distinct sources: Where two matches are required, this indicates whether the sources need to be unique.
Active: Indicates whether this was the rule that contributed to the overall result. Only one rule is the active rule, even if additional matches are discovered.

For example, we can see that the rule for Matches name and address, plus name and DOB was the active rule used for an overall result of 2+2.

The rule was met because the individual's full name and address was matched in a civil source or credit source and the individual's full name and date of birth was matched in a second civil source or credit source.

Only the rules currently used by your smart policy are displayed. For example, if your smart policy specifies that the check passes with 1+1 results, then rules with 2+2 results are not displayed.

See which sources were searched

All sources that had a match for the individual are displayed below the overall result.

The matches that contributed to the overall result are highlighted.

What are the matches that are not highlighted? Only one rule contributes to the overall result. If additional matches are discovered, they'll be displayed but not highlighted. Matches that don't contribute to the overall result are also displayed but not highlighted (e.g. matches that don't include the date of birth when the smart policy specifies that date of birth must be included).

To see the sources that were searched but did not have any matches for the individual, click Show database results with no matches.

If you click this button and nothing is displayed, all sources have matches for the individual.

See if the check passed

The smart policy determines which overall result is required for the check to pass.

There are two options:

The check passes on a 1+1 result: When the overall result is 1+1 the check passes. If a 1+1 result cannot be achieved, the check fails.
The check passes on a 2+2 result: When the overall result is 2+2, the check passes. If a 2+2 check cannot be achieved but a 1+1 result can, the check returns a partial match. If a 1+1 result cannot be achieved, the check fails.

The smart policy can be configured to try another data provider automatically if the check does not pass. This is called waterfalling. If it happens, you'll see the word Waterfall next to the check result name. Hover over Waterfall to see which data providers were tried.