“Collaboration enables GHCL to automate ESG checks, improve transparency and build a future-ready supply chain”

• Automate ESG data collection and verification across suppliers
• Identify high-risk suppliers early to mitigate operational and reputational risks
• Introduce ESG scoring parameters into supplier evaluations
• Improve decision-making and onboarding processes based on compliance insights
• Align supplier practices with global ESG standards and SEBI’s BRSR framework

AuthBridge, India’s leading authentication technology company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Neeraj Taneja as President – India Sales. In his new role, Neeraj will lead AuthBridge’s India growth strategy, driving business expansion, strengthening client partnerships, and enhancing the company’s market leadership across the country.

With over three decades of leadership experience spanning supply chain, entrepreneurship and banking, Neeraj brings a deep understanding of how businesses scale and sustain growth in competitive markets. A seasoned professional, he has led large P&L portfolios, built agile sales teams, and delivered consistent business results across industries. Known for his people-first leadership style, Neeraj has earned wide recognition for fostering high-performance cultures that balance growth with mentorship.

Prior to joining AuthBridge, Neeraj held leadership positions at ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IndusInd Bank, where he served as Zonal Head for the Delhi NCR region. He began his career in 1994 with HCL HP and later contributed to Frigoglass and EDS before venturing into entrepreneurship in the e-commerce space. 

His journey is marked by innovation, customer focus, and sharp business acumen that have shaped both teams and strategy. Notably, ICICI Bank honoured him with an Honorary Professorship for his outstanding contribution to mentoring and grooming young branch managers, a testament to his passion for developing future leaders.

Introduction

In a recent feature on ET Edge Insights, Ajay Trehan, Founder & CEO of AuthBridge, shared his perspective on how synthetic identity fraud is emerging as a critical risk for India’s financial sector and why responsible AI governance is essential to counter it.

He explained how the increasing use of AI to create synthetic identities — a blend of real and fabricated data — poses new challenges for banks, fintechs, and digital lenders. Without explainable and governed AI systems, financial institutions risk enabling the very fraud they are trying to prevent.

“The findings from our latest discrepancy report underscore the pressing need for change across the industry. In an increasingly competitive job market, candidates are under immense pressure, leading many to misrepresent their credentials. This not only impacts a company’s bottom line but also raises serious concerns about workplace safety and customer trust” said Ajay Trehan, Founder & CEO, AuthBridge.

AuthBridge’s latest Workforce Fraud Files 2025, featured by ANI, highlights the rising challenge of misrepresentation in India’s workforce. The report found a 6% discrepancy rate among white-collar hires and 4% among gig workers, exposing risks from inflated resumes and fake degrees to moonlighting and impersonation in delivery roles.

With pharma, BFSI, telecom, and IT/ITES sectors showing some of the highest discrepancy rates, the report stresses the urgent need for instant and ongoing verification models tailored to specific roles and risks.

“AuthBridge’s latest report reveals 6% discrepancy in white-collar hires and 4% in gig workers, urging instant and ongoing verification”

New Delhi, India – August 20, 2025 – AuthBridge, the country’s leading trust and authentication technology company, today released its Workforce Fraud Files 2025, a discrepancy report which analyses six months of background verification data from October 2024 to March 2025. The report reveals a widespread issue of misrepresentation and fraud in the Indian workforce, with significant discrepancy rates found across both the white-collar and gig economies. The report highlights a 6% discrepancy rate for white-collar employees and a 4% rate for gig workers, raising alarms for businesses across various sectors. According to the findings, a bad hire can cost up to one-third of an employee’s first-year salary.

Mr. Ajay Trehan, CEO & Founder, AuthBridge, said, “The findings from our latest ‘Workforce Fraud Files 2025’ discrepancy report underscore the pressing need for change across the industry. In an increasingly competitive job market, candidates are under immense pressure, leading many to misrepresent their credentials. This not only impacts a company’s bottom line but also raises serious concerns about workplace safety and customer trust. It’s clear that relying on outdated hiring practices is no longer an option. The data from the report shows that discrepancies often emerge after a job offer is made, leading to significant time and budget waste. The time has come for organisations to move towards instant and ongoing verification models that are tailored to the specific role and its associated risks”.

Key Findings: A Deeper Look into Workforce Fraud

• White-Collar Workforce: An overall discrepancy rate of 6% was found, with the IT, banking, and telecom sectors being the hardest hit. The most common issues include:

• Resume Mismatches: 17% of resumes did not match the candidates’ actual credentials.
• Employment Verification: 13% of employment checks failed due to inflated salaries, fabricated work experience, and contract violations.
• Moonlighting: 5% of white-collar employees were found to be moonlighting, particularly in the tech and startup sectors.
• Education Checks: 5% of education checks flagged discrepancies, with fake certificates and degrees from blacklisted institutions being the primary issues.
• Court Records: 2% of court record checks revealed issues such as assault, theft, and fraud.

• Gig Economy: Gig workers showed an overall discrepancy rate of 4%. The findings point to serious concerns for customer safety in industries such as e-commerce, food delivery, and transport, due to issues including court record offences and fake identities. Noteworthy discrepancies include:

• Address Verification: 20% of cases failed address verification checks, often due to temporary accommodations or frequent relocations.
• Legal History: 3.5% of gig workers were found to have a legal history, with the most common offences being assault, theft, and traffic-related violations.
• Impersonation: The report identifies impersonation as a major challenge, in which a different individual completes the delivery than the one who checked in at the warehouse. This practice has resulted in issues such as pilferage, missing cargo, and fraud.

• Leadership Risks: High-profile cases, such as financial misreporting in senior hires, emphasise the need for deeper due diligence beyond referrals.

• Pharma reported the highest discrepancy rate at 16%, driven by inflated experience claims and unverifiable referrals.
• BFSI/Financial Services recorded an overall discrepancy rate of 11.69%. The most alarming finding was that 29% of cases showed employment misrepresentation, with candidates inflating tenure or company names, or failing to disclose a history of termination.
• Telecom recorded 11.34%, with frequent address mismatches and instances of moonlighting.
• IT/ITES had an overall discrepancy rate of 9.46%. The report found that nearly 1 in 5 candidates in the IT sector lied on their resumes, with common red flags including inflated job titles and exaggerated tenures. The sector also recorded 5% dual employment, especially in remote roles.

Strengthening Verification Practices

• Adopting instant and ongoing verification to detect risks such as moonlighting or criminal activity without delay.
• Designing role-based verification protocols with deeper checks for sensitive or leadership positions, including financial integrity and behavioural assessments.
• Implementing real-time facial recognition and device binding to prevent impersonation in gig and delivery-based roles.
• Using early warning tools like UAN checks at advanced hiring stages to flag fraudulent applications before offers are made.

AuthLead is a specialised tool for senior-level hiring that goes beyond basic checks to build a 360-degree leadership profile, including independent references, financial integrity reviews, litigation history, and cultural fit assessments, helping organisations appoint trustworthy, well-aligned leaders.

Its newly introduced GroundCheck.ai, India’s first AI-powered platform for instant, on-ground customer, merchant, and vendor verification, covers 20,000+ PIN codes and tackles challenges such as fragmented networks and slow turnaround times, delivering speed, scale, and accuracy in one solution. As India’s workforce adapts to new models of working and employee onboarding, such as hybrid or remote work and gig economies, Workforce Fraud Files 2025 emphasises a significant challenge for employers to prioritise speed, scrutiny, and innovation in their hiring practices. 

The full report is available for download at https://authbridge.com/workforce-fraud-files-2025/. 

With a global presence across 190+ countries and a track record of conducting 15 million verifications each month, AuthBridge continues to lead the global identity verification landscape—combining cutting-edge AI with responsible innovation.  About AuthBridge For over 20 years, AuthBridge has been a leader in identity management, onboarding & verification, and business intelligence. Our future-ready, AI-powered technology and alternative-data analytics serve over 3,000 clients in 30+ industries, from Fortune 500 giants to India’s fastest-growing unicorns, ensuring secure, seamless operations worldwide.

With its presence in 140+ countries and an operational scale of 15 million verifications monthly, AuthBridge continues to lead the global identity verification landscape — combining cutting-edge AI technology with responsible innovation.

About AuthBridge

AuthBridge is India’s leading authentication and background screening company, trusted by enterprises across sectors for over 20 years. Through proprietary technology, alternate data analysis, and AI-powered solutions, AuthBridge enables businesses to verify, onboard, and build trust at scale — empowering organisations to mitigate risks and unlock growth.

In recognition of Digital Adoption Professionals Day, Ajay Trehan, Founder and CEO of AuthBridge, shared insights with The Hans India on how digital verification is evolving as the cornerstone of trust in regulated industries.

“Digital adoption is no longer just about tools—it’s about embedding trust, transparency, and real-time compliance across operations,” said Ajay.

With over two decades of experience in identity verification, Trehan explained how AuthBridge’s AI-powered solutions are enabling businesses in high-risk industries like BFSI, staffing, and fintech to onboard users faster, prevent fraud, and stay audit-ready.

He emphasized that risks such as identity fraud, deepfakes, and document tampering are no longer edge cases—they’re systemic threats. To tackle these, leading firms are adopting real-time verification frameworks that proactively detect fraud and ensure regulatory compliance.

In an exclusive feature with Tech Achieve Media, Ajay Trehan, Founder and CEO of AuthBridge, sheds light on how the company is redefining onboarding and fraud prevention for the BFSI sector through its advanced suite of 160+ APIs and AI-powered verification tools.

As regulatory pressure mounts and fraud incidents rise, AuthBridge’s cutting-edge verification infrastructure is helping financial institutions accelerate digital onboarding, comply with evolving norms, and mitigate identity-related risks at scale.

India’s online gaming industry is experiencing rapid growth, projected to reach USD 8.36 billion by 2030, fueled by affordable smartphones and widespread internet access. However, this expansion brings increased vulnerability to cyber threats, particularly deepfake-based identity fraud.

Understanding the Threat

Deepfakes—AI-generated synthetic media—pose significant risks in online gaming. Fraudsters use them to:

• Bypass facial recognition during player onboarding.

• Forge identity documents to exploit KYC processes.

• Create synthetic accounts for bonus abuse or money laundering.

These tactics threaten platform integrity and compliance with India’s IT Rules (2023), which mandate stringent verification for real-money gaming.

The Role of AI & ML in Defense

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning offer robust solutions:

• Deepfake Detection Engines analyze facial anomalies to flag altered media.

• Advanced Liveness Detection ensures the presence of a live user through 3D face mapping and eye tracking.

• AI-Powered Document Verification validates metadata and detects tampering in ID proofs.

• Behavioral Biometrics monitor user behaviors to distinguish humans from bots.

These technologies enable platforms to:

• Block fraudulent onboarding attempts.

• Prevent multi-accounting by cross-verifying biometric data.

• Mitigate payout fraud through stringent verification protocols.

• Ensure fair play in competitive gaming by detecting non-human participants.

Balancing Innovation with Responsibility

While AI and ML enhance security, ethical considerations are paramount. Compliance with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, is essential to safeguard user data. Transparency in AI-driven decisions and bias mitigation in facial recognition tools are critical to maintaining user trust.

Conclusion

In the fast-paced online gaming industry, AI and ML are indispensable for fortifying identity infrastructure against deepfake-based fraud. Investing in these technologies not only future-proofs platforms against emerging threats but also strengthens regulatory compliance and fosters a safe, trustworthy environment for millions of digital gamers.

“Investing in AI-driven TrustTech not only future-proofs platforms against emerging threats but also strengthens regulatory compliance and fosters a safe, trustworthy environment for millions of digital gamers

”
– Ajay Trehan, Founder & CEO, AuthBridge