What is ID Scan, and what does it prove?
ID Scan verifies a signer before they sign by checking a government ID and the person holding it. The signer photographs their driver's license or passport and takes a selfie. Verdocs checks that the document is authentic, that the selfie matches the ID photo and shows a live person, and can confirm the ID belongs to the recipient you meant to send to. It works for signers anywhere in the world.
What does ID Scan check?
Four things. Document authentication checks that the driver's license or passport is genuine and shows no signs of tampering. Face comparison matches the signer's selfie against the photo on that ID. Passive liveness checks that the selfie shows a live person, without asking the signer to perform any gestures. Recipient matching compares the identity on the ID with the recipient details the sender supplied.
What is recipient matching for?
It answers the question the other checks cannot: is this the person you meant to send the document to? When you know who should sign, require the match, and a genuine ID belonging to someone else will not pass. When you do not know the identity in advance, as with an open or ad hoc request, ID Scan still verifies that the ID is genuine and that the person holding it is the one in the photo.
How is it different from KBA?
KBA asks the signer questions drawn from public records, and it works for US signers. ID Scan checks a physical document and the person presenting it, so it works wherever your signers are. ID Scan does not look the signer up in identity databases; it relies on the document, the selfie, and the details you supplied.
When should you use it?
When a disputed signature would be expensive and you need to know a real person holding a genuine ID signed: payment and payee changes, claim releases, account changes, and signers outside the US where KBA is not available. Like the other authentication steps, it is a choice you make per document, not a setting for everything you send.
How does it work for the signer?
Before the document opens, the signer photographs their ID and takes a selfie, inside the same signing flow. If the checks pass, they continue to the document. If a check fails, the signer cannot continue and is asked to contact the sender, and your application receives a recipient_auth_fail webhook so your backend can react.
Where does it work?
Worldwide, with driver's licenses and passports. ID Scan checks the authenticity of the document itself, so it does not depend on the signer's country having a national eID scheme.
What does it cost?
$2.50 per attempt. Each attempt is charged, including one that fails. It is available on paid plans and activated for your account on request, with no setup fee.
How do developers turn it on?
Add ID Scan to a recipient's authentication methods (auth_methods) through the API. Verdocs runs the authentication steps in a fixed order, and a failed step stops the signer. The Recipient Auth Ladder guide in the developer documentation covers the order and the webhooks.
Going deeper on ID Scan
Matching Signer Verification to the Insurance Transaction
Not every insurance document needs the same signer check, and document type alone should not decide it. A starting matrix for matching checks to the signer, the requested action, and the money involved.
Read the post2026-08-23Is Knowledge-Based Authentication Enough for Remote Signing?
IRS Publication 1345 requires KBA and also points at a NIST assurance level. Reading both documents carefully shows why that question has no clean answer.
Read the postRelated
- What is KBA?
- How does SMS work in Verdocs signing?
- The Recipient Auth Ladder, in the developer documentation
Prices sit with the other identity add-ons on the pricing page.
Talk to us about itGeneral information, not legal advice; consult your own advisors for the signature level your documents require.