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Is there a way to accurately verify age online?

I have considered verifying using Credit Card data however I read that very few banks allow access to personal data.

I have also considered Javascript but that is easy to get around (just lie about your age).

Is there a way to accurately verify age online?

Note: This is for an online store that sells tobacco products.

Community
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L84
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    [On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog) – cheesemacfly Apr 17 '13 at 18:23

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If I remember right, Coursera verifies the identity of their students for some special courses (well, they pay $50 and the site will verify that they did in fact do the course, got whatever grade, etc) by having them take a picture of themselves and their driver's license.

Obviously this is far too invasive for most cases, but it's quite honestly the only thing I've come across so far that would be reasonably reliable for asserting your age on a website (cards can be stolen, etc).

For just a tobacco store, though? Maybe sticking to just doing a very small credit card charge would work. I don't know if there is a legal concern here too, as to what's considered to be reliable enough, but that might be worth checking into as well.

Mike
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  • That is an idea but I agree it is too invasive and whats to stop them from taking a photo of a friend and their DL? Then you factor in Photoshop abilities and it can be beat. What this site ended up doing is having various disclaimers, etc. and not worrying to much about the age. Another idea we have toyed with is shipping to 21+ only and then having UPS, USPS, FedEx or other delivery service verify the age, similar to the way alcohol is sold online. – L84 Mar 24 '14 at 23:33
  • Nothing is going to be absolute, but it'd probably get you up to "as if they were there in person" level of certainty. That means both that it's as reliable as if they were there in person, and that it's as flawed - it's not like no one's ever bought someone else beer before, after all. I like your idea there about verifying the age on delivery. – Mike Mar 25 '14 at 14:09