# Customer verification Source: https://freesbe.net/docs/customer-verification/ > Check that a caller or chat customer is who they say before you change their account. Send a code or a confirm link by text or email, or an ID check, and see the answer on the call right away. Works from your CRM too. Before you change someone's address, reset their password or read out their balance, you want to know you're talking to the customer and not someone pretending to be them. With **Customer verification**, you send the customer a code or a link while they're on the line or in the chat, and see their answer in Freesbe as soon as they give it. ![Sam on a call with Lucas Martin: the Verify sheet, with Code, Confirm link and ID check, and a text to the number he called from](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/verify-sheet.webp) It's an add-on to **Call center**, priced per agent. An admin sets it up in the [Admin Center](https://freesbe.net/docs/admin-center/) under **Call center → Customer verification**. ## Three ways to prove it - **Code.** The customer gets six digits by text or email and reads them out to you. You type them in, and Freesbe tells you if they're right. It proves they have the phone or inbox you have on file. - **Confirm link.** The customer taps a link and sees who's asking: your business's name and logo, and your first name. They tap **Yes, it's me**, or **No, I'm not talking to them**. - **ID check.** The customer takes a photo of their ID and a short selfie on their phone, and it's checked in a couple of minutes. For the riskiest changes, like moving money or changing the owner of an account. ## Verify someone on a call 1. On the call, click **Verify**, under the caller's name in the phone panel. 2. Pick how they prove it, and where to send it: a text to the number they're calling from, or, for a confirm link, **Read the link out**. The number is shown partly hidden, so a caller can't ask you to read it back. 3. Click **Send**. For a code, ask them to read it out and type it in. You see how long it lasts, and how many tries are left. ![The code sent to Lucas's number, with the box to type in what he reads out and the time left](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/verify-code-waiting.webp) The answer shows on the call the moment they give it. ![Verified: the code was right, on Sam's call with Lucas](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/verify-verified.webp) ## Verify someone in a customer conversation The **Verify** button is also in every [customer inbox](https://freesbe.net/docs/customer-inbox/) conversation, over the box where you reply. For a web chat, you can pick **Read the link out** and paste the link into your reply instead of sending a text or an email. When a customer says it isn't them, Freesbe shows it as a warning. Someone may be using their name, so don't share any details or make changes. ![Lucas's conversation in #support: Not confirmed, he said he isn't talking to Northwind Traders](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/verify-declined.webp) ## What the customer sees The text or email comes from your business's name. The link opens a page with your name and logo, who's asking, and two buttons. Nothing to install and no account to make. ![Lucas's phone: Northwind Traders, Sam from Northwind Traders asked to check it's you, with Yes, it's me and No, I'm not talking to Northwind Traders](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/verify-customer-page.webp) ## How long it lasts - Codes and links work for **10 minutes** by default; an admin can choose from 2 to 30. ID checks get at least 15. - A wrong code takes one try. After **5** wrong codes (3 to 10, as your admin chooses), it stops working and you see **Not verified**. - Sending a new one to the same customer, or on the same call or conversation, cancels the one before it. Its link stops working. - If the customer doesn't answer in time, you see **Nobody answered in time**. Click **Try again** to send a new one. - Once it's done, the link shows the result to the customer and can't be used again. If the call drops, the verification keeps going until it ends: when the customer answers, the app that started it hears the result, but your call panel is gone, so verify them again when they call back. ## Set it up In the [Admin Center](https://freesbe.net/docs/admin-center/), open **Call center → Customer verification**. You need to be an admin who manages the phone system. ![Admin Center, Call center, Customer verification: Code, Confirm link and ID check on, texts from the Customer texts number, email on, and the limits](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/admin-center-customer-verification.webp) - **How customers prove it's them**: turn each kind on or off, and pick the one agents see first. - **Text from**: one of your [SMS inboxes](https://freesbe.net/docs/customer-inbox/#texts-to-your-freesbe-numbers). Texts go to US and Canadian numbers. While the number is in test mode, nothing is sent and the result says **(test)**. - **Email**: sent with your workspace's name and logo. - **Let agents type another number or address**: off by default, so agents can only send to the customer's own: the number they're calling from, the conversation's customer, or what your CRM sends. When it's on, the result only proves the customer holds what the agent typed. - **Limits**: how long codes and links last, and how many wrong codes are allowed. Each customer can get up to 10 verifications a day, and your workspace up to 300, so nobody can use it to flood someone with texts. ## From your CRM Put a **Verify** button in your CRM, help desk or back office. An [app](https://freesbe.net/docs/apps/) with the `verifications:write` scope starts one with `POST /api/workspaces/{w}/verifications`, naming the customer and the agent who waits. It shows on the agent's call or conversation at once, with the live status, and the app hears how it ended from the `verification.verified`, `verification.declined`, `verification.failed` and `verification.expired` events. Send your own `reference` and `metadata` and they come back with every event, so you can update the record. See [Customer verification in the API reference](https://freesbe.net/docs/api/#ref-verifications). ## Privacy Freesbe keeps codes and links only as fingerprints that can't be turned back into them. For ID checks, the photos of the ID and the selfie are kept by our identity checking partner, not in your workspace, and Freesbe keeps only the result. --- More from the Freesbe help center: https://freesbe.net/llms.txt lists every page. AI assistants can search it over MCP at https://freesbe.net/assistant/mcp, with no sign-in.