Online identity verification is a link the client finishes

People ask how online verification works because the old habit was a certified copy across a desk. Checked against AUSTRAC's overview of initial customer due diligence on 5 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The contents of a result are what an AML check covers. Person and entity are separated in KYB and KYC. The matters you still have to establish are customer due diligence requirements. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The three moves

First the firm decides a check is required. That decision comes from the designated service and the program, not from a software prompt. Second the firm emails the client a link. The email is ordinary. It says who is asking and what to open. It does not ask the client to reply with images of documents. Third the client completes the link and the firm receives a result. Save it on the matter under a name a colleague can find. Note the date. If the result is a hit or a failure, the officer sees it. The software has finished its part when the result is in your hands.

AUSTRAC allows electronic data from a third-party digital identity service where the data is reliable and independent. It expects you to think about who maintains the data, whether the system is secure and current, and whether you can establish the matters on reasonable grounds. A link is a way of collecting that evidence. It is not a waiver of the other matters: anyone the customer acts for, anyone acting for the customer, beneficial owners of an entity, politically exposed persons and sanctions, and the nature and purpose of the matter. Tick those in the program. Do not assume the result ticked them because the identity step looked modern.

What the client should understand

• You asked, because of the service, not because you suspect them. Say that plainly. Do not mention reports.
• They complete it themselves. A staff member does not “just grab the licence” into a private mailbox.
• A person and a company are different checks. KYC for the human. KYB when the customer is a company or a trust.
• They pay the published price. A$20 or A$40. The firm is not adding a platform fee on top as a subscription.
• A finished link is not approval of the matter. You can still ask about the purpose, or refuse the service, under the program.

Failures are still a result

If the client does not finish, you do not have verification. Do not provide the designated service on a promise to “do it later”, unless a delay rule that actually applies to this service says you may. If the check cannot match the person, or you suspect they are not who they claim to be, AUSTRAC says you must not provide the service where you cannot establish the matter, and a suspicion of false identity is a suspicious matter. The officer handles that. The client is not told that a report is in view.

FreeAML is built as this sequence. The firm suite costs A$0. The client pays. There is no seat fee for the receptionist who sends the email. The firm keeps the judgment. That is the whole mechanism. It does not need a practice-system connector to be real.

Where this page stops

This page is the mechanism. Whether a government digital identity is a substitute for it is myID and AML checks.

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. There is no subscription. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. The link is the product. FreeAML does not charge the firm a monthly fee for the right to send one.

Frequently Asked Questions