The person we’re interviewing today has set an example of how dedication and the vision to drive change in the industry can make someone successful. Meet Shahid Hanif, a CTO and Co-founder of Shufti Pro, which provides businesses with automated IDV, e-IDV, KYC, risk assessment, and KYB solutions. Started in 2017 on a small scale. Today, his company has become one of the leading identity verification solution providers in the world, offering a complete suite of KYC services in 240+ countries and territories. In this article, we’ll shed light on the current status of Shufti Pro, achieved milestones, product innovations, and its expansion plans for the future.
A Testament of Hard Work and Diligence
Success is often fictionized as an overnight phenomenon achievable in a matter of time. However, for real strugglers like Shahid Hanif in real life, it’s filled with various challenges and hard times, but the result is what we see today as Shufti Pro. The UK-based company has partnered with over 1,000 enterprises worldwide, completed 20+ million verifications, and won multiple awards from renowned publications, validating the company’s achievements and success.
A Spark of Innovation in Shahid’s Life
Shahid has been a technophile since childhood, having a deep love for programming and IT. Following his interest, in 2015, he completed a Master’s in artificial intelligence from The University of Edinburgh. During his master’s, Shahid witnessed AI as a revolutionary technology that can do things beyond human capability with better performance and in less time.
The Idea of Shufti Pro | Born out of the Frustration
Shufti Pro was born out of the frustration of inefficiencies in manual verification. Previously, KYC verification service was primarily based on a manual process. The problem with this approach was its long delays and human errors. It used to take days or weeks for customers to pass their KYC, and organizations struggled to provide their users with reliable and quick services.
Shahid wanted to create a platform allowing all businesses, from large to small scale, to authenticate their users with optimal verification reliability without the need to pay hefty operational costs.
Shahid put the base of Shufti Pro in 2017 with the desire to fortify businesses against the growing threats of digital fraud while maintaining the customer satisfaction rate.
The Innovative Approach of Shufti Pro
While many other businesses were using manual KYC, Shufti Pro took a revolutionary approach that changed the ways businesses used to authenticate the identity of their customers. Shahid implemented artificial intelligence in KYC, powered by a propriety machine learning algorithm. This approach resolved the majority of inefficiencies that preceded the manual process.
Through the elevation of AI, the KYC process became automated, reducing reliance on humans for verification, resulting in a lower operational cost, and eradicating human errors from the authentication process. Moreover, the KYC verification, which used to take days or weeks, got shortened to minutes or seconds with an accuracy level much higher than the manual process.
Shufti Pro’s Role in Combating Online Fraud
Shufti Pro has launched many other AI-powered compliance solutions including e-IDV, risk assessment, KYB, OCR, AML screening, and NFC verification, enabling businesses to deter fraud with sophistication and achieve global compliance seamlessly.
Today, Shufti Pro is one of the fastest-growing IDV providers in the market that has partnered with 1,000+ enterprises in over 240 countries, completed 20M+ verifications, and won multiple best-performing awards. The platform empowers businesses to strengthen themselves against evolving ID fraud through its fast-track customer onboarding and authentication, utilizing real-time identity verification solutions.
Shufti Pro’s Future Plans for the Latest Generative AI Scams
Scammers are becoming more sophisticated due to generative AI and deepfakes, as these technologies are so good at doing manipulation. According to the report by Bloomberg, deepfake and generative AI technology is turbocharging a new wave of cyber fraud. “Masks created with photos from social media that can penetrate a system protected by face ID,” and “Computer-generated children’s voices are so realistic they fool their parents,” – Bloomberg’s report.
We asked Shahid Hanif, how Shufti Pro is working to deter this new technology scam, and he told us:
“These new technology scams make it even more difficult for conventional biometric systems to differentiate between actual and spoofing attempts. Shufti Pro is constantly working to overcome the threats posed by generative AI. Earlier this year, we introduced e-IDV, which uses a government-issued e-ID for authentication, eliminating the need for physical documents.
Moreover, we just launched enhanced face-bio authentication that now includes 3D depth perception and liveness detection, capable of spotting deepfake and masking attempts up to 100%.”
He added, “We’re also working on other new solutions that will further help organizations to deter fraud with better accuracy.”
