Natalie Disraeli, Head of Talent at Persona, said rising application volumes and lean talent teams are making it increasingly difficult for organizations to verify the authenticity of job candidates.
In a press release announcing the company’s candidate verification solution, she said organizations are struggling to balance hiring speed with confirming identity throughout the recruitment process.
“With application volume on the rise and a lean talent team, we can’t afford to spend time questioning whether a candidate is real or is who they say they are. Our time belongs in real conversations with hiring teams—and hiring real people,” Disraeli said.
Persona’s candidate verification product is designed to ensure that the same individual remains consistent across the hiring lifecycle, from application through interviewing and onboarding. The system verifies candidates by matching government-issued IDs with live selfies, while also using device behavior and network intelligence to detect deepfakes and impersonation attempts. The company said the solution integrates with applicant tracking systems including Ashby, Greenhouse, and Workday.
The announcement reflects broader pressure on employers as higher application volumes and more sophisticated AI-enabled fraud techniques make identity verification more complex during hiring.
Industry examples illustrate these concerns.
Okta, a cybersecurity company, said on its security blog that it integrated Persona into its employee onboarding process after identifying instances of individuals using fraudulent or stolen identities to apply for positions. Okta said Persona is the first ID proofing vendor it has integrated into its workflow.
Broader data underscores the scale of identity fraud risks. The Deloitte Center for Financial Services estimates that synthetic identity fraud losses could reach at least $23 billion annually in the United States by 2030. Organizations also reported median global losses of $145,000 per employee fraud incident in 2024.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a 25% increase from the previous year. Industry data further shows deepfake attempts occurring approximately once every five minutes in 2024, while digital document forgeries increased 244% year over year.
Persona states on its privacy page that it does not sell personal data and does not use personal data for AI training or model development. The company operates in more than 200 countries and territories.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, Persona raised $200 million in Series D funding in April 2025 at a $2 billion valuation. The company was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Identity Verification, ranking highest for Ability to Execute.
