By -

For solicitors and law firms, one of the first steps to be taken when onboarding new clients, is to verify their identity. Is the person who they say they are? What documents are acceptable to verify their identity? Is this person the client and are they capable of providing the solicitor or the firm with instructions?

Ensuring that the client is who they claim to be is essential, especially for those practising in property, conveyancing and wills and estates matters, where significant assets including property are involved.

The Federal Government has announced the release of the updated National Identity Proofing Guidelines (guidelines) to ensure better protection for Australians from identity fraud.

Aimed at government, public and other sectors, the guidelines provide tips on the most effective methods of establishing a person’s identity to prevent identity fraud, which can have serious consequences.

The guidelines acknowledge a list of potential consequences of identity fraud including a person receiving a financial or non-financial benefit from a transaction that they are not entitled to, a party accessing sensitive information without permission, and other serious outcomes.

In announcing the updated guidelines, Attorney General Michelle Rowland said they were required to keep up with advancing technology and have, for the first time, been updated to include biometric proofing and facial recognition.

The guidelines have not been updated since 2016. Given the evolution in technology and the sophisticated methods used to commit identity fraud by scammers and criminals, there was a need to update the guidelines to ensure that they remain relevant and can be used to safeguard Australians’ personal data against fraud.

“Strong identity proofing is critical to help protect Australians from fraudulent activity, strengthen Australia’s identity resilience and ensures our documents and processes are consistent and trusted across private and public sector organisations.

“The refreshed and modernised guidelines will further strengthen identity proofing practices, encourage greater national consistency through a principles and risk-based approach and support organisations undertaking identity proofing for both physical identity credentials and digital ID,” said Rowland.