Innovator Q&A: Mike Wilkins, Senior Director, Trust & Safety at Turo

Mike Wilkins is the Senior Director, Trust and Safety at Turo, the world's largest car sharing marketplace. He oversees teams safeguarding marketplace safety, brand reputation, fraud prevention, and identity verification. Mitek interviewed him to gain his perspective on how authentication solutions play a vital role in managing fraud prevention at Turo.

Q: How does authentication help Turo in managing fraud prevention?

Mike: Authentication helps Turo reduce fraud by verifying a user's identity each and every time they use our product. This helps to mitigate the risks of identity theft and fraudulent activity on the platform.

Q: What are the benefits of using authentication for Turo?

Mike: Using authentication provides several advantages for Turo. Primarily, it significantly reduces the risk of fraud by verifying a user's identity, making it difficult for bad actors to impersonate legitimate users and gain access to vehicles. This not only prevents initial fraud but also helps mitigate downstream risks by enabling Turo to confirm a user's identity quickly if suspicious activity is detected later.

Additionally, authentication fosters a more trusted experience for all users on the platform, as they can be confident they are interacting with other verified individuals.

Furthermore, advanced authentication streamlines the verification process, making it quicker and more convenient for users compared to traditional document verification methods. This can lead to increased user satisfaction and a smoother onboarding experience.

Q: How does Turo use authentication for high-value bookings?

Mike: Turo uses authentication for high-value bookings by requiring document verification or a user scan to confirm the user's identity. This helps to ensure that the person booking the vehicle is the same person who will be using it.

Q: Can user authentication be used for more than just initial verification?

Mike: Yes, authentication can be used for more than just initial verification. Once a user is verified, Turo can use the authentication process to compare a user's facial features to their original personal data to confirm their identity for different product offerings without requiring additional document verification.

Q: What was important for Turo when selecting a partner for identity verification and authentication?

Mike: From the outset, we were committed to creating a seamless and user-friendly onboarding experience. To achieve this, we needed to find a partner who shared our vision. This meant finding a company willing to actively collaborate on the design, that was innovative and at the forefront of identity verification technology, and capable of building an onboarding flow that users would actually enjoy.

Q: What was Turo's goal for the onboarding experience?

Mike: Striking the right balance between convenience and security was crucial in designing our onboarding process. We wanted to make it as simple as possible for users to join the Turo platform, without compromising on our fraud prevention efforts.

Q: What feedback does Turo hear from customers about the onboarding experience?

Mike: Our onboarding experience, powered by Mitek's visual identity verification, has proven to be a success. Customers consistently highlight how easy it is to get verified and access vehicles on Turo, demonstrating that we've achieved our goals of creating a user-friendly and trustworthy process.