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Are banks using ML to verify my signature?

2 points by nuane ↗ HN
I recently noticed that someone compromised my identity and opened a retail credit card with my information. Having worked in retail where I opened store credit cards, I know that employees don't always reliably verify someone's identity, and often times all someone needs is a social security number to open a fraudulent account.

But now, with modern Machine Learning applications, are banks deploying software to actually verify that someone's signature is at least 80% legitimate? Or are there any startups/projects/organizations/open-source projects anyone might know that are actively working on this?

5 comments

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icedchai
You must be kidding. Banks don't even look at your signature unless there's some sort of dispute.
Zekio
If ML was used on my signature I would never be able to use a bank, pretty sure I've never written it remotely similar.

All I consider a Signature to be is like a confirmation, pretty much the same as a checkbox or clicking an OK button, just in a more inconvenient form

nuane
This is what it's become. I just scribble a line mostly, because most signatures are done on an electronic device (nothing beats good ol' pen and paper). And this is how employees actually feel about a signature.

But when you open a credit card the employee is supposed to verify that the signature matches the signature on your state-issued id, and a basic AI program would only better enable the employee. Seems like such an obvious solution to counter fraud too

icedchai
Credit card employees aren't verifying anything. All of my credit cards have been opened remotely: online, and through the mail.

And I can count on one hand the time a merchant has actually checked my signature against the credit card. And for charges under $50, most places don't even ask for a signature.

Best to just get rid of the signature entirely and speed up the transaction. It's pointless.

oferzelig
My previous bank took 4 samples of my signature when I opened an account. When one of them was off, the software could tell that and I'd be asked to sign again, until the computer had 4 "similar enough" signatures.

And then, in reality, I think it's only checked against when you someone deposits a high amount check you've given them or when you do some other substantial trnasactions.