FACECHECK ID - This post reports the results of weeks of in-depth research into the third-party software vendor and web app called FACECHECK ID which has made the shift from free to paid services. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
TDNO has opted to continue referrals to the Facecheck ID.
(Visit the FACE SEARCH page here.) The Dark Night Online has joined the Facecheck ID affiliate referral program so that we can provide you with a 10% discount to reduce your cost. Anyone who uses the TDNO Facecheck ID affiliate referral link to buy face search credits AND who is a free TDNO app member will be provided Facecheck ID app support through www.thedarknight.online and will receive guidance if you get stuck.
In this post you can learn how to
buy face search credits using cryptocurrency
find alternatives for those who find Facecheck ID too difficult or expensive to use
lobby government agencies that are resourcing your cyber defence to get free apps
help us price a premium face identity search with a written report
Prevention is Cure
TDNO has referred tens of thousands of people worldwide to use the FACIAL - PHOTO RECOGNITION SOFTWARE created by the third-party software vendor FACECHECK ID.
Facecheck ID is used to check if a person who has connected to you is who they say they are and (or) has other identities with the same photo across social media platforms.
The aim of a social media face search tool is to prevent a ROMANCE or any other kind of Cyber, Crypto or Financial Fraud SCAM. Facecheck ID has quickly become one of the most popular scam and fraud prevention tools for cyber-crime in use by civilians in the dark of night online. Instead of staying up late and suffering from worry and stress, citizens become their own heroes and put a stop to the onslaught of the fraud pandemic.
Click on the picture to visit the artist profile.
With a social media face check tool anyone can be a detective and at any hour in the dark of night online fight back against a scammer. Anyone can be their own hero.
So, what's the catch?
No Longer Free
We can't do much about the fact that rising costs are impacting us all.
Recently FACECHECK ID introduced Cryptocurrency payments to buy 'credits' for searches and is now using a combination of crypto payment technologies like BITPAY, CAKE WALLET and MONERO. The crypto eCommerce is complicated and could prove to be a difficult and potentially risky experience for the average person, especially for anyone who seeks outside help and who may then become vulnerable to be exploited by someone giving support. Let's avoid that.
Only Crypto
Don't be confused by the PAYPAL and other PAYMENT FORMS logos. You cannot use traditional payment methods on the FACECHECK ID platform, which only allows payment in cryptocurrency in the form of LITECOIN, MONERO or BITCOIN. The other forms of payment logos are there only to suggest that you can buy crypto somewhere else using those payment methods. As you are about to learn below, using the right wallet will make the experience much simpler.
After hands-on testing, I found that the native QR codes and links that are shared after you click on LITECOIN, MONERO or BITCOIN might not work on some custodial and non-custodial wallets. For the trial I tested the popular Australian Cryptocurrency Wallet called CoinJar which did not recognise any of the links or QR codes and did not work at all. Yikes!
Then I tested other wallets. I found that COINBASE worked seamlessly.
Preparation is nine tenths of success.
It turns out that success with buying Facecheck ID search credits occurs when you use the specific technologies that Facecheck ID prefers people to use. Keep in mind that you do have to set these apps up prior to buying credits. That will involve downloading the COINBASE WALLET APP, then setting up your COINBASE user profile, creating authentication for security. connecting your credit or debit card and bank account, and then making sure that you have a Litecoin wallet. You will need to have pre purchased enough Litecoin to pay for the Facecheck ID invoice that pops up after you click on BUY CREDITS WITH LITECOIN. This is very complicated for a first timer.
COINBASE WALLET worked best (and cheapest in terms of fees) with the use of LITECOIN CRYPTOCURRENCY through a manual transaction. Copy and paste the whole Litecoin address to send to, along with the correct quantity of Litecoin within your COINBASE WALLET under the SEND function.
DON'T USE THE "OPEN IN WALLET" FUNCTION.
The link to open a wallet calls on the BITPAY non-custodial wallet and is designed to work when you are clicking through on a mobile AND have the BITPAY wallet set up with links to your COINBASE WALLET.
Problem. This doesn't work on desktop or mobile and I have tested all workflows.
This step requires authorising BITPAY to connect to your COINBASE WALLET and even when connected, doesn't work due to errors in the set up.
Goodness gracious.
What does work is the manual copy and paste of the Litecoin address into Coinbase Wallet SEND LITECOIN function. The transaction takes around 10 to 30 minutes and is very slow. You will think the transaction has failed. Be patient and wait.
Go make a hot cup of tea or coffee.
The invoice created at Facecheck ID is LIVE and does eventually recognise that a transaction is in progress, but you need to keep the web browser open and think of the web page as an attendant that doesn't say much but is working hard in the background.
Your credits will eventually appear at FACECHECK ID once your Litecoin has arrived in FACECHECK ID's crypto wallet, and you will get your credits for searches.
The experience may be a bit daunting for some people and we can provide a manual paid service where it is needed.
Monero (privacy coin) was added into the mix. The complexity of the set-up of Monero in the CAKE WALLET presents potential for self-searchers to get exploited by scammers; if and when they seek help with how to use a Monero wallet. Monero doesn't work in COINBASE and it's best to stick with LITECOIN for low fees.
Alternatives
There are very few alternatives in FACIAL RECOGNITION that work as well as FACECHECK ID and regardless of capability, most of them are expensive and priced well beyond affordability.
GOOGLE PHOTO SEARCH
Is pleasantly FREE! YAY! However, the catch is that Google Photo Search is not 'that' good and certainly not good enough for a proper forensic search. Beggers can't be choosers and so, this is a great option if you are in the "something is better than nothing" category. There is a way to improve Google Photo Search.
This involves a bit more work and time on your part. Because Google Photo Search costs nothing, you can search ALL THE PHOTOS of the person without limit (you will run out of credits quick on paid apps) that you think is a scammer. This breadth and depth of search takes a long time but can yield results close to a paid professional service. What a professional AI can do in a few minutes, Google and you might take a few hours.
Click on the Google logo to do a FREE SEARCH.
Other paid and free services
FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE is now being pitched at enterprise agencies and sold in bulk with fees in the hundreds and up to thousands of dollars in some cases. The future of this technology looks like people accessing it through investigation agencies. Fees will vary from a few dollars to hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the kind of services on offer. Well beyond the reach of most people. This is very unfortunate right in the middle of a cyber fraud pandemic. SOME ALTERNATIVES ARE:
Social Catfish (WORLDWIDE-PAID)
TinEye (CANADA - PAID)
Bing Images (USA-FREE)
PimEyes (WORLDWIDE-PAID)
Lobbying Cyber Defence Organisations
Long term, I hope that the eSafety Commissioner in Australia and organisations like Cyber Secured India could work together to develop an international (or local) portal(s) that is (are) provided FREE to assist prevention of romance scams and cyber-crime through Face Check software. In Australia you would contact Julie Inman - Grant or someone equivalent in your country.
Share this post with people to let them know they could prevent billions in consumer losses by empowering consumers to become equipped with free tools to prevent crimes happening to them.
If Government agencies can't help with the development of a FREE APP to help prevent crime, then I will put out a call to philanthropists to help me build a more affordable platform.
Premium Face Search Service
Short term, The Dark Night Online will be setting up a low fee, paid, manual service. We have bitten the FACECHECK ID paid credits bullet and bought credits that we can use to provide a premium manual service with reports created by experts. The manual service will take about 30 minutes per search and will result in a printed PDF report or Excel with links and names. Our premium service won't be highly priced and will be available through credit or debit card, but we won't launch the manual service until we have feedback from you on the pricing.
QUESTION
How much do you think we should charge for the premium manual search service with a PDF and Excel Spreadsheet Report? The cost for accessing this level of function on FACECHECK ID is USD597. We are thinking not more than EUR50.00 for regular folk for a single face search, more for corporate and government - what do you think? Let us know!
This report has been compiled by:
GLYN MACLEAN | FOUNDER The Dark Night Online
Cyber, Crypto & Financial Crime
INVESTIGATION & TRAINING