SAN DIEGO, Aug. 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK, www.miteksystems.com), a global leader in mobile capture and identity verification software solutions, and Gift Card Bank, a nonprofit donating gift cards and financial support to those impacted by COVID-19, announced a new partnership to bring Mitek’s Mobile Verify^® technology to its donation platform. Mitek is providing its solution free of charge to help Gift Card Bank quickly and accurately verify the identities of individuals requesting support, protecting against potential fraud attempts by scammers who file fraudulent donation requests.

As of June 2020, Americans had filed more than 47 million jobless claims since the onset of the coronavirus. As these claims continue to grow, however, so do the number of scams related to relief funds – with Americans reporting fraud losses of more than $93 million due to COVID-19 scams so far, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

“In today’s rapidly evolving digital economy, identity verification is critical to ensuring peoples’ online safety and security,” said Max Carnecchia, CEO of Mitek. “We’re proud and grateful that our fraud prevention technology will help an innovative organization like Gift Card Bank deliver financial assistance to people who are hurting the most.”

Founded in March 2020, Gift Card Bank collects gift card and cash donations, identifying families and individuals in need through foodbanks and fintech apps, and securely distributing the funds across a network that reaches more than 10 million low-income Americans. By integrating Mitek’s identity verification technology within the platform, users requesting donations simply upload a picture of their driver’s license or other government-issued ID document and answer a few questions to quickly determine the authenticity of the user and their identity. Mitek’s technology is trusted by banks and major financial institutions around the world to safeguard against identity fraud and uses a combination of advanced analytics and biometric comparisons to detect even sophisticated fraud techniques such as deepfakes.

“People across the country are being hit hard by COVID-19. By September this year, our goal is to be supporting more than 2,000 vulnerable Americans with more than $100,000 in donations – but to do that, we needed partners who could help us identify those most in need and ensure aid goes to the right people,” said Khalil Fuller, Founder of Gift Card Bank. “Mitek’s identity verification technology was the obvious choice to ensure this happens. Mitek’s generosity also means that 100% of our donations go to those in need, not paying to manage our platform’s technology.”

For more information on Gift Card Bank’s mission or to make a tax-deductible cash or gift card donation, visit www.giftcardbank.org.

About Mitek
Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK) is a global leader in mobile capture and digital identity verification built on the latest advancements in computer vision and artificial intelligence. Mitek’s identity verification solutions enable organizations to verify an individual’s identity during digital transactions to reduce risk and meet regulatory requirements, while increasing revenue from digital channels. More than 7,000 organizations use Mitek to enable trust and convenience for mobile check deposit, new account opening and more. Mitek is based in San Diego, Calif., with offices across the U.S. and Europe. Learn more at www.miteksystems.com. 

About Gift Card Bank
Gift Card Bank's mission is to improve wellbeing and financial security by supporting people through their time of greatest need. The Gift Card Bank platform is the first-ever fully compliant and scalable technology tool built specifically to provide gift cards for food and essential goods for low-income populations in the USA. Gift Card Bank partners with top-tier food banks, mission-aligned technology companies, and generous grocers, to alleviate hardship caused by COVID-19. Gift Card Bank is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Good Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Learn more at www.giftcardbank.org

Mitek Contact
Angela M. Romei 
Corporate Communications Director
pr@miteksystems.com

Ed Cruz 
LEWIS for Mitek 
MitekUS@teamlewis.com