Newsflash: people lie and commit fraud on the internet. We know this might come as a shock to you (wink wink), but there is a lot of inaccurate information and fraudulent activity taking place online. And while things seem to be improving, US and Canadian online retailers still lost $3.3B to fraudulent transactions in 2009! And that doesn’t even take into account what’s happening on the classified ad sites and job boards.

At Maven we are very aware of the risks involved in connecting people for paid interactions via our online platform, and we have adopted a comprehensive fraud-prevention strategy and suite of protocols to help give our participants confidence that they are interacting with “real people” in a secure, controlled environment. A core component of our fraud-prevention system is Identity Verification.

Simply put, ID Verification is a process by which you validate that you are WHO you say you are- and that the people you interact with via Maven are who they say they are. If you are a Maven Client, we verify your identity immediately when you become a Client. For US-based Members, you have the option to do this at any time, but are required to do so prior to accepting your first invitation to consult with one of our Clients. In the future we will also require this for international Members.

Maven has partnered with Trufina, the leading provider of online identity verification services, to allow you to verify your identity to Maven. Never heard of Trufina? You will… They are quickly becoming the “gold standard” for online ID Verification, and more ecommerce websites are adopting Trufina every day. Trufina has been around for about five years and is based in Annapolis, MD. We have gotten to know their staff quite well over the past two years and consider them to be a very reputable, professional, and trustworthy organization. To be clear, Trufina and Maven are separate companies; our only connection to them is as a customer of their verification services.

Trufina verification is quick, simple, inexpensive, and perpetual. It takes about five minutes to go through the Trufina process, it only costs $3.95 for Maven Members (a pittance compared to how much you will make on your first Consultation when it occurs), and you only have to do it once- once you verify your identity to Maven you will never have to do it again! Trufina verification is also portable- your online Trufina ID card is yours to keep and use on other sites that accept it (we also recommend adding the Trufina Verified logo to your resume so recruiters know you are who you say you are). Finally, you will receive a Trufina Verified tag (see above) on your profile that is visible to our Clients when searching for Mavens, your profile will appear higher in search results, and your MavenScore will receive a permanent boost. All of these factors will increase the visibility and attractiveness of your Maven profile, making it more likely that you will be invited to consult.

We understand that this requirement will cause us to lose some potential participants. In fact, just this past weekend a Maven Member whose profile appeared to be ideal for a particular Client interaction, refused to participate because we asked him to validate his identity. In addition to appearing irrational (why would somebody quibble over $3.95 when they stand to make hundreds- or even thousands- of dollars consulting with our Client???), the Member’s refusal raised a huge red flag to us. Why refuse to verify your identity if you really are who you say you are? We’re willing to lose such people in order to preserve Maven’s integrity and help prevent fraud.

For more info on Maven’s Identity Verification requirement, visit the FAQ or Contact Us.