Onfido Provides Biometric Onboarding for German Online Pet Exchange

DeineTierwelt is turning to Onfido to help build trust between pet traders and potential owners. The company noted that the volume of illegal puppy trading has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and believes that Onfido’s identity verification technology will help prevent fraud and ensure that each person using the app is in fact the person they claim to be.

The DeineTierwelt platform is available in German-speaking countries, and is currently the largest online pet exchange in those language markets (the company places approximately 200,000 animals on an annual basis). The problem is that online pet exchanges have historically been anonymous, which creates opportunities for unscrupulous traders who may not be taking proper care of their animals, or who acquired their animals through illicit means. DeineTierwelt was set up to address that issue, and to create more accountability in online trading systems.

That’s where Onfido comes into play. Moving forward, anyone who wants to sign up for a DeineTierwelt account will need to complete a biometric registration process that asks users to take a selfie and a picture of their photo ID. The Onfido platform will then confirm that the ID is authentic, and use facial recognition to match the image on the ID to the selfie of the user.

“I firmly believe that we can only be successful in the long term if we put animal welfare before short-term, economic interests,” said DeineTierwelt Managing Director Daniel D’Amico. “That is why I am pleased that we have found an extremely competent partner in Onfido to put an end to the problem of anonymous online trade in animals once and for all.”

The news speaks to the growing interest in remote onboarding solutions. Onfido built on its 2020 success with a record first quarter in 2021, and it has since gone on to add Orange and One to its client roster. The company also partnered with FaceTec to release a new biometric authentication platform.

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July 13, 2021 – by Eric Weiss