Client refuses to provide ID: script for the front desk

People search “client refuses AML ID” when a front desk at a suburban agency has a client who will not provide identity and is waiting to be talked round. Checked against AUSTRAC’s initial customer due diligence overview on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. A calmer explanation, before anyone refuses, is on how to talk about AML with clients. What you must not reveal about a report is on what not to tell a client. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The words, and the stop

The desk is not deciding the law. The program already did. If identity is required and the client will not provide it, the designated service does not start. The script is there so a new receptionist does not bargain.

Say you can email the link, say the file stops if they decline, and then stop talking. A refusal can itself be something the compliance officer needs to hear, and that handoff is internal. You do not tell the client you are considering a report, and you do not ask them how to describe the refusal so it looks milder. Those conversations are tipping-off problems: this page gives the stop, and it does not give a way through.

• Use the same sentence. We cannot move this file until the check is done. Variation is how exceptions start.
• Offer the link once. Email it if they will complete it. Do not offer a different standard for a loud client.
• No substitute person. A friend, a spouse, or a staff member’s identity is not the customer’s check.
• Tell the officer, not the client, about the red flag. The officer decides what the refusal means. The desk does not narrate a report.

Four replies, one outcome

Clients refuse in a handful of ways. The outcome on an in-scope file is the same. Sort the sentence so the desk does not treat a forgotten wallet as a permanent refusal, and does not treat a permanent refusal as a delay.

Where the refusal page stops

This page is the stop at the desk. It is not the general client conversation and it is not the tipping-off rules. Those are how to talk about AML with clients and what not to tell a client. FreeAML does not talk the client into a workaround.

The firm suite is A$0. If they complete the check, the client pays.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. The firm suite does not include a path around a refused identity check. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not provide the designated service without the identity the program requires.

Frequently Asked Questions