Overview
Element451’s Identity Verification adds an extra layer of security to your application process by confirming the identity of your applicants using verified documents and selfie checks— all powered by the industry leader in payment and ID verification, Stripe.
This feature is designed to combat application fraud and works alongside tools like the Bolt AI Fraud Detector Agent to ensure that your applicants are who they say they are.
The Student Experience
When ID Verification is enabled for an application, students see a new “Verify Identity” step in the application navigation.
Start Verification: Student clicks the Verify Identity step in their application menu.
Introduction Pop-up: A modal informs the student that identity verification is required and that your institution is partnering with Element451 and Stripe for secure processing.
Terms Agreement: The student accepts Stripe’s Terms and Conditions.
Stripe Verification Process: An embedded Stripe experience begins, where they choose how to complete the verification.
Scan a QR code to continue on mobile.
Copy, email, or text the verification link.
Continue on their current device.
Capture Documents & Selfie: Applicant's submit:
Photos of their ID document (passport, drivers license, government ID, etc.)
A selfie for facial matching. Liveness detection ensures the person submitting the identity is physically present and is not using a photo, mask, pre-recorded video, for deepfakes to by-pass the selfie match.
Verification: Stripe extracts data from the document and:
Compares the selfie to the document image
Matches the name to the name on the application
Checks for document fraud or alterations
Return to Application: The verification status is updated in real time.
Configuring Identity Verification
Identity Verification is configured at the application level, giving you control over where it’s used. You can enable it for some application types and leave it off for others. Just like application fees, when you enable verification, you can choose to require it either before or after the application is submitted.
You can also apply Identity Verification Rules to further target segments of applicants for verification.
Go to Applications > All Applications
Open the application you want to update
Click Edit (top right)
Scroll down to the Identity Verification section
Toggle Enable Identity Verification by Default
Toggle Required to Submit by Default
Off: Applicant can submit their application and complete the verification later
On: Applicant cannot submit their application until verification is compete and in verified status.
Optional: Add one or more Identity Verification Rules.
Managing Verification Status
ID Verification status is stored in the student’s Contact record.
Steps to view:
Go to Contacts and open the student record
Navigate to More Data > Person Data
Look for the Identity Verification field
From here, you can:
View the Current Verification Status:
No Attempt: Contact has not started the verification process
Started: Contact has begun, but not completed the verification process
Processing: Stripe is currently reviewing the submitted verification information
Failed: Stripe returned a negative result on the verification. This indicates a problem with the document or selfie matching
Mismatch: Stripe validated the document and selfie as matched, but the name on the document does not match the name on the Element451 application
Verification Risk: Stripe returned an overall verified result, but one or more fraud-indicative signals were present on the underlying checks, flagging the submission for staff review.
Manual Verification: Staff has manually marked this contact as verified outside of the Stripe flow (e.g., the student's identity was confirmed through another channel)
Manually Failed: Staff has manually marked this contact as failed (fraudulent) outside of the Stripe flow
Waived: Contact does not need to be verified.
View the Verification Updated At timestamp:
Displayed next to the verification status, this shows the date and time the status was last changed, in your instance's timezone. This timestamp updates automatically whether the change came from a Stripe verification result or a manual status update by a staff member.
Update Verification Status:
No Attempt: Reset verification status
Manual Verification: Mark the contact as verified based on identity confirmation completed outside of Stripe.
Manually Failed: Mark the contact as failed (fraudulent) based on staff review. This blocks the student the same way a Stripe Failed result does, and is the recommended way to resolve a flagged Verification Risk case that does not meet your institution's standards.
Waived: Contact does not need to be verified
Only users with the Administer Profiles or Manage ID Verification Status permissions can update a Verification Status.
✨ Pro Tip: Since verification is attached to the contact, applicants only need to verify once, even if they apply to multiple applications that have ID Verification enabled.
Reviewing Verification Risk Contacts
What is Verification Risk?
A contact enters Verification Risk status when Stripe's top-level verdict is Verified— meaning the document and selfie passed the core checks—but one or more fraud-indicative signals were also present on the underlying review. Because no single signal is definitive enough to trigger an automatic failure, the verification is not blocked. Instead, the contact is flagged internally so staff can decide whether to take a closer look before moving the student forward.
Common examples of what might trigger this status include:
Elevated document fraud or authenticity risk — Stripe's fraud models detected something unusual about the document's structure, formatting, or consistency, even though it wasn't conclusive enough to fail outright
Physical document detection concerns — signals suggesting the document may have been photographed from a screen rather than presented as a physical document
Selfie liveness issues — the selfie passed face matching but raised questions about whether it was captured live
Selfie-to-document match concerns — the face match succeeded at a threshold level but with lower confidence than expected
Duplicate selfie with data mismatch — the same selfie image has been associated with a different identity elsewhere on the Stripe network
Risky behavior flagged on the Stripe network — activity patterns associated with this verification session have been flagged across Stripe's broader fraud intelligence network
In these cases, no single signal—nor any combination of them—was sufficient to warrant an automatic failure. The student is not blocked from submitting or continuing their application. The flag is entirely internal and staff-facing.
Setting Up a Review Flow
The recommended approach is to use a conditional checklist item and/or additional outreach to automatically route Verification Risk contacts into a staff review workflow. This ensures flagged students are reviewed consistently without requiring staff to manually monitor for the status.
1. Create an Application Checklist Item
Add a checklist item titled Additional Identity Verification Required and set its condition to only appear when a contact's Identity Verification status is Verification Risk. Once in place, any student who triggers Verification Risk will automatically surface this item on their record. The checklist item serves two purposes: it prompts staff to review the flagged signals and take action, and it can be used to hold the student at their current stage — preventing them from advancing to the next decision step until the review is resolved.
2. Set Up a Campaign or Agent Job to Request Additional Information
Use a segment built on the Verification Risk status to trigger a campaign or Bolt Agent job that reaches out to the student automatically. This outreach can:
Ask the student to provide additional context or clarifying documentation to support their verification
Invite them to schedule an appointment with an admissions counselor or staff member for an identity confirmation conversation
Set expectations about the review timeline so the student understands their application is still being considered
This step keeps the student informed and engaged while the review is underway, rather than leaving them without communication.
3. Staff Reviews the Case
With the checklist item surfaced and any student-provided context in hand, the assigned staff member reviews the flagged signals alongside the student's submitted identity documents (see Viewing Identity Documents). From there, staff resolves the case by updating the verification status to Manual Verification or Manually Failed, which clears the checklist item and moves the student forward or blocks them accordingly.
Viewing Identity Documents
Staff with the appropriate permissions can view and download a contact's identity verification documents — including the front and back of their ID and their selfie — directly from the contact record in Element451, without needing access to the Stripe Dashboard.
👀 Steps to View:
Go to Contacts and open the student record
Navigate to More Data > Person Data
Locate the Identity Verification field
Click View Identity Documents next to the Verified status pill
A side sheet will open and load the student's submitted documents directly from Stripe on demand.
The side sheet displays:
ID Front — always present for verified sessions
ID Back — displayed when available (some document types, such as passports, are single-sided)
Selfie — displayed if completed by the student
Downloading documents:
Staff with the Download ID Documents permission will see a Download button next to each artifact. You can use this to download any relevant images.
📌 Note: Identity document images are fetched directly from Stripe via a secure, restricted use API. They are never stored within the Element451 database. All access is via short-lived, secure links generated on demand from Stripe. Images are only visible for the duration of the open side-sheet session.
Permissions:
Two permissions control access to this feature:
View Identity Documents — required to see the "View Identity Documents" button and access the side sheet
Download Identity Documents — required to see and use the "Download" button within the side sheet
Element451 Leverages Stripe for Identify Verification
Stripe is a global leader in identity verification and compliance, trusted by enterprises and educational institutions worldwide. Their platform provides:
🔒 Bank-grade security
All identity data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Stripe’s infrastructure meets the highest standards for data protection, ensuring applicant information stays safe.
🌍 Global support for documents from 120+ countries
Stripe can verify passports, driver’s licenses, and national IDs from around the world—ideal for institutions with international applicant pools.
🔍 Advanced document and selfie fraud detection
Machine learning and AI checks for tampering, reused documents, and fake selfies using liveness detection and biometric matching.
🔄 Continuously updated fraud intelligence
Stripe regularly updates its database of ID formats, regional variations, and fraud tactics to stay ahead of emerging threats and forgery trends.
🛡️ Strict Privacy Compliance
Element451 never stores or sees sensitive data like selfies or ID images. Stripe handles all verification in a secure, privacy-first environment. Element451 only stores the verification status on the contact record.
Pricing
Identity Verification is available to partners with Element451's AI Workforce Admissions Team as a Usage-Based Pricing Feature.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A student has reported a name mismatch during identity verification, but outside of Element451 the name and document appear correct and match the applicant record. What should I do?
A student has reported a name mismatch during identity verification, but outside of Element451 the name and document appear correct and match the applicant record. What should I do?
Stripe is designed to handle most identity verification checks seamlessly, including international documents and names, and in nearly all cases it returns accurate data to Element451.
However, in rare situations, special characters, non-Latin characters, spacing differences, or formatting variations may cause the name extracted from the student’s document to not match the name stored in Element451 exactly.
If you have independently verified that the student’s identity and documentation are correct, you can manually update the verification status to “Waived.”
What does Stripe check for when reviewing documents?
What does Stripe check for when reviewing documents?
As part of the ID Verification process, Stripe performs automated and manual fraud checks on submitted documents to ensure their authenticity. This includes:
🛑 Document Tampering: Stripe detects whether the document has been:
Digitally altered (e.g., photoshopped or edited)
Reconstructed or forged using templates
Overlaid with false information (like name or date of birth)
🔁 Reused or Stolen Documents
Previously submitted documents across the Stripe network (to detect reuse)
Publicly known fraudulent document formats or templates
Evidence that a document may have been compromised or sold on black markets
🧩 Structural and Visual Consistency: Stripe uses machine learning to analyze the layout and design elements of the document:
Are fonts, logos, holograms, or seals consistent with what’s expected for that country or document type?
Are shadows, edges, or backgrounds suspicious
🕵️♂️ Real vs Fake Documents: Stripe verifies:
Machine-readable zones (MRZ) for passports or licenses
Barcode and QR code data, if present
Document expiration and issue dates
Facial image consistency across documents and selfie
🌍 Global Document Intelligence: Stripe supports over 120+ countries and is trained to detect nuances between:
Different versions of documents from the same country
Old vs. new formats
Region-specific security features (e.g., watermarks, foil stamps
Why does the applicant need to take a selfie?
Why does the applicant need to take a selfie?
The selfie is a key part of the identity verification process. It allows Stripe to:
Match the student’s face to the photo on their government-issued ID (e.g., passport or driver’s license)
Confirm that the person submitting the document is physically present and not using a photo, video, or screenshot of someone else
This is done through what's called a liveness check—a secure, AI-powered process that looks for subtle signs that the selfie is being taken in real time by a real person.
🔍 What is a liveness check? Liveness checks help prevent fraud by detecting attempts to spoof the system using:
Photos of an ID holder
Pre-recorded videos or deepfakes
Masks or screen recordings
Stripe’s liveness technology analyzes facial movement, depth, and image quality to determine if the selfie is authentic and live. If the system detects that the selfie may not be real or has been tampered with, the verification will fail—keeping your application process secure.
📌 Note: All selfie data is handled exclusively by Stripe. Element451 never stores or accesses the images.
Can I leverage Element451 Identity verification for Title IV aid purposes?
Can I leverage Element451 Identity verification for Title IV aid purposes?
No. Element451 identity verification is designed as an admissions fraud-prevention tool, helping institutions reduce fraudulent applications upstream before students enter financial aid workflows. It is not intended to replace or directly support the Title IV verification process, which follows separate federal requirements and institutional procedures.
Will fake or fraudulent documents ever be approved as valid?
Will fake or fraudulent documents ever be approved as valid?
Yes, this is a real possibility. No identity verification system is 100% foolproof. Even the best-in-class systems tested in the DHS Remote Identity Validation Rally (2025) have a ~1% false acceptance rate against fraudulent documents, and the federal standard (NIST SP 800-63A) sets the acceptable threshold at 10%.
This is why Element451 treats identity verification as one layer in a multi-tiered approach to applicant fraud. Identity verification checks whether submitted documents appear valid and consistent — face match, document format, field validity. The Verification Risk status surfaces borderline verifications that passed but raised signals worth a closer look. And Bolt Fraud Detection operates as a separate, complementary layer that analyzes behavioral and contextual signals — IP patterns, email reputation, application velocity, and other risk indicators.
A sophisticated bad actor may submit convincing documents that clears the check checks. Element451 is designed so that when that happens, the combination of signals across identity verification and fraud detection gives institutions the best possible chance of catching it before it matters.
Do all statuses and document access apply to verifications completed before June 2026?
Do all statuses and document access apply to verifications completed before June 2026?
Not fully. The Mismatch status was introduced in March 2026 and Verification Risk in June 2026, so verifications completed before those dates will display the status that was assigned at the time and will not be retroactively re-evaluated. Additionally, access to identity document images may be limited for verifications completed prior to June 1, 2026.