Why You Need to Re-Evaluate Your Anti-Fraud Defenses Regularly

There’s a reason 74% of organizations evaluate new anti-fraud solutions at least once a year: Fraudsters continuously adopt new, more sophisticated methods, and businesses need to update their defenses accordingly. The easiest way to do so is to seek out and work with vendors that regularly refine their tools to protect clients against the latest tactics and challenges.

In this article, we share how the latest digital identity verification (IDV) solutions effectively balance fraud prevention with a positive user experience, so that businesses can meet their customers’ expectations while reducing risk and boosting growth.

Digital transactions—and fraud—are on the rise

For years, consumer transactions have been steadily migrating to the digital realm. For example, digital wallets as an online payment method is projected to grow 14.9% CAGR between 2023 and 2027 opens in a new tab. The embrace of digital and remote transactions increases the distance between businesses and their customers, offering bad actors further opportunity to commit crimes of fraud and deception.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency received more than 1.1 million reports of identity theft opens in a new tab through its IdentityTheft.gov website in 2024. Additionally, research from Entrust and Docusign finds that organizations that use IDV detect identity fraud earlier and in 20% more stages of the customer journey than organizations that do not use IDV. And as security strategies and technologies improve, fraudsters are adapting quickly, employing methods that are more sophisticated and difficult to detect. 

Today, these methods include deepfakes, synthetic identities, and account takeovers.

Research from the World Economic Forum opens in a new tab reports that two-thirds of respondent organizations (66%) expect AI to have the most significant impact on cybersecurity in the year to come, yet only 37% report having processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment.

The imperative to balance security and customer experience

According to research from Docusign and Entrust, although 4 in 10 organizations are confident they can fully mitigate identity fraud risk through the prudent application of the right technology, almost half (45%) of businesses still prioritize customer experience over fraud prevention. 

Consumers—particularly members of younger generations—now expect a fast, seamless, and mobile-friendly identity verification (IDV) experience. They are becoming increasingly comfortable with digital IDV and choosing it over older, less convenient verification channels like in-person or mail.

Fortunately, modern IDV solutions are fully capable of meeting the need for heightened fraud detection and mitigation while also offering a frictionless, fully digital customer experience. 

Barriers to switching seem too high

So why are some organizations reluctant to switch their fraud prevention technology when better, more reliable, and accurate solutions are available?

Those organizations that delay switching their current IDV platforms often cite three areas of concern: 

• Upfront costs: New solutions may require a significant capital outlay, not just to purchase the software itself, but also for less-obvious costs like integration, training, and ongoing support. Some businesses prioritize immediate cost savings over long-term gains in security, lower fraud expense, and customer experience.

• Resistance to change: Change management is a significant hurdle in many businesses, particularly when it comes time to implement new technology. Staff often worry about the impact new systems and processes may have on their daily work. Some may express concerns with interrupting existing workflows or introducing unwanted friction for customers. Many are simply comfortable with the status quo and resist anything new. If the current system “seems to work,” teams may not complain, and decision-makers might not feel the urgency to upgrade to a better solution.

• Blind spots to current system’s vulnerabilities: If the direct and indirect financial impacts of fraud aren’t obvious, or false positives aren’t tracked, leadership may underestimate the true cost of a less-than-ideal or dated IDV system. Without obtaining objective customer feedback or conducting rigorous data analysis, it is often difficult to assess the true cost of identity theft, let alone the amount of friction users are experiencing.

Despite these objections, a strong majority of firms surveyed (70%)agree that the best way to mitigate the financial risk of identity fraud is through a significant technology investment. They understand it’s possible, through strategic planning and rigorous vendor assessment processes, to embrace new identity fraud solutions while managing change and ensuring an outstanding customer experience.

Straightforward identity verification you can trust

Identity fraud is on the rise worldwide. As businesses become more digital, the growing distance between them and their customers creates new risks and exposes them to new types of vulnerability.

Organizations need to review their fraud prevention strategies, methods, and technology on an annual basis. The latest IDV solutions offer a range of advantages over older methods and manual processes, including:

• Cost-effectiveness: Newer providers may offer better pricing, higher accuracy, and more efficient processes. In contrast, outdated systems tend to become more expensive over time. They require more frequent updates that may result in more IT customer support tickets. Older technologies also rely more on manual processes, leading to wasted time spent on data entry and compliance reviews, higher potential for human error, and a compromised user experience.

• Simplicity and scalability: As companies grow, they must deal with higher volumes and more diverse user profiles and identity document types across multiple geographic locations. Modern digital IDV solutions are more inclusive and designed to serve a diverse demographic. They also offer pre-built integrations with leading CRM systems, risk engines, and third-party services like multi-layered verification.

• Compliance with the latest requirements: Regulations and industry guidance around privacy, personal information, and data security is always changing, and the latest rules, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services (eIDAS) in the EU & UK, HIPAA in the U.S., and industry standards like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and SOC 2 require businesses to capture and protect certain personal identity information as part of know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) or customer due diligence (CDD) processes. The most advanced modern IDV solutions offer functionality to help organizations record and store required information, customized for specific industries and organizations.

Docusign Identify offers a range of modern identity verification and authentication solutions that are fully integrated into a digital agreement workflow, making it easier to reduce identity fraud by boosting security, meeting compliance requirements, and simplifying the digital experience for consumers.

With advanced technologies such as Risk-Based Verification (available in H2 2025), AI-powered biometric liveness checks, automated identity document verification, phone and SMS authentication, and knowledge-based authentication, Docusign helps organizations ensure that only intended participants can access, review, and complete important agreements. Better yet, Identify enables businesses to customize exactly when and where these checks occur within the document workflow.

Whether you're sending external documents for completion, distributing important internal memos for review, or just verifying identities before a contract is signed, Docusign is your trusted partner for secure digital interactions.

Identity fraud is a very real threat. With Docusign Identify—part of the Docusign IAM platform—protecting your business’s processes, agreements, and customer data from identity fraud while streamlining key business processes has never been easier. It helps keep your digital interactions secure, compliant, and trusted—all without impacting the user experience.