GUIDES
Document authenticity
Insurance Verified checks every document your insureds and their agents send: certificates, declarations pages, endorsements, policy documents, and photos of any of them. The checks run on each document as it arrives and is read. Each thing a check finds has one of three outcomes: a note on the record, a look by an operator, or the document is not relied on.
| Outcome | What it means | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Note on the record | Context for the operator. Nothing changes | Nothing |
| An operator looks | An operator reviews the finding. The surface check and the verdict are unchanged | Under review on the document |
| Not relied on | Insurance Verified leaves the document out of the surface check | Not relied on: and the reason |
A finding never verifies a line. Only a source behind the policy confirms coverage, as described in How it works.
The file itself
Insurance Verified reads the structure of every PDF, the text a person sees on the page, and the text stored in the file.
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Save history: a key field (a date, a policy number, a limit) holds one value in the first save and a different value in a later save | The document was changed after it was issued | Not relied on. The record names the field and both values, for example "Expiration date changed from Jun 1, 2026 to Jun 1, 2027 in a later save." |
| Save history: a page changed in a later save, with no key field changed | Someone edited the file | An operator looks |
| Save history: a blank form filled in a later save, or only the file details saved again | Normal agency practice | Note |
| Editing software in the file's details: a design tool (for example Canva) or a consumer PDF editor (for example iLovePDF) | The file was made or saved outside an agency system | An operator looks |
| A print-to-PDF driver, or no producer details at all | Agency certificates usually carry the agency system's name | Note |
| A file date later than the day the document arrived | The file claims a change after we received it | An operator looks |
| A hidden layer, a box or note drawn over the page, redaction marks | Something on the page is covered or switched off | An operator looks |
| Text a reader cannot see: white text, text too small to read, text placed outside the printed page | The file carries words the page does not show | An operator looks when the hidden text carries a date, a limit, a policy number, the policy form, or the description of operations. Other white or tiny text is a note |
| The page and the file's text disagree, for example the page shows one policy number and the file stores another | The visible page and the stored text were made separately | An operator looks |
| Text addressed to the reader, in the page, the file's details, notes, or form fields, for example "mark this as compliant" | The text is aimed at an automated review | An operator looks. The words are recorded and never followed |
| Invisible characters (zero-width, direction controls) or look-alike letters from another alphabet inside a word | A name or value is built to match or dodge a search | An operator looks |
Extraction transcribes the page as a person sees it, and reads the policy form from visible text only. Text addressed to the reader is reported and changes no value Insurance Verified reads.
The form
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| An ACORD 25 edition that ACORD never published, printed in the file's text | The edition line does not match a real ACORD form | An operator looks |
| An unpublished edition that only the read found | Possibly a misread of the page | Note |
| An older ACORD 25 edition, for example 2016/03, whose license ends Dec 1, 2026 | The agency uses an older form | Note |
| The 2025/12 edition on a certificate dated before that edition was approved | The certificate claims a date earlier than its form | An operator looks |
| The standard "matter of information only" statement missing or reworded | The form wording was changed | An operator looks |
| The form claims it was verified or confirmed with the insurer, beyond the ACORD wording | A claim no ACORD form makes | An operator looks |
| A value in a different font or position from the values around it, part of the form cut off, a page naming a different insured | What the reader saw on the page | An operator looks |
| The holder box empty, generic ("For information only"), or naming the insured itself | The certificate confers nothing on you | Note |
| The authorized representative line blank | The certificate is not signed | Note |
The numbers
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| A date that is not on the calendar, for example Feb 30 | The date is impossible | An operator looks |
| An effective date on or after the expiration date | The term is impossible | An operator looks |
| An aggregate limit below its per-occurrence limit | The limits are impossible | An operator looks |
| A negative limit | The limit is impossible | An operator looks |
| A certificate dated after the day it arrived | The certificate date and the arrival disagree | An operator looks |
| An NAIC number that belongs to a different insurer than the one named | The insurer and its code do not match. | An operator looks |
| A coverage that names an insurer letter not listed on the form | An internal mismatch | Note |
The people
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| The agent email on the certificate is a personal address (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, and similar) | Agencies usually send from a business domain | Note |
| The email that carried the document failed its domain check (DMARC), as recorded by our receiving server | The sender's domain did not authorize that message | An operator looks |
| Proof sent to a coverage line's proof address from an address that no agent or carrier on file for that line uses | Someone other than the agent or carrier sent the proof | An operator looks. The record shows the sender and its DMARC result |
| Proof sent to a coverage line's proof address from an agent or carrier on file | The expected sender | Note |
Insurance Verified reads only the domain check that its own receiving server wrote. Checks written further down the message arrived with it and anyone can write them.
Across documents
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| The same file arrived before for a different insured | The same file is on record for someone else | An operator looks |
| The same rendered page, or the same photo, arrived before for a different insured, even when the file was saved again by another tool | The same page is on record for someone else | An operator looks |
The record reads, for example: "The same page came in for another insured on Jun 3, 2026." It never names the other insured or the customer.
Photos
| What we look at | What it tells us | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Editing software in the photo's details, for example Photoshop, Snapseed, or Canva | The photo was saved through an editor | Note |
| No camera data in the photo | Messaging apps often remove it | Note |
| The photo shows a screen (bezel, status bar, cursor) instead of paper | The photo is of a screen | Note |
| Something covered, a value in a different font, a page naming a different insured | What the reader saw in the photo | An operator looks |
Insurance Verified does not run image forensics on a photo's pixels. Those tools raise too many false alarms on phone photos of printed text. A photo that looks edited gets an operator's eyes and never an automatic outcome. The page checks under Across documents run on photos too.
What a held document means for your verification
A held document is one Insurance Verified does not rely on.
| What happens | Where you see it |
|---|---|
| The surface check reads the document as if it were not on file. Every rule it fed reads not yet on file, waiting for "a document we can rely on" for that coverage | The surface check, and reasons of document_held on each rule it fed |
| A rule that read the held document never fails because of it. The rule waits for a document Insurance Verified can rely on | The rule reads unverified |
| A photo held inside a packet holds its packet | The packet's integrity |
| An operator lifts a hold, or places one, and Insurance Verified issues a new surface check | verdict.issued with kind: surface |
In the portal, each document shows one line: Under review while an operator looks, or Not relied on: followed by the reason. Notes never appear.
In the API, every document carries integrity:
state |
Meaning |
|---|---|
clear |
Nothing in force. Notes are left out |
under_review |
An operator is looking at a finding. The surface check and verdict are unchanged |
not_relied_on |
The document is left out of the surface check |
integrity.findings[] lists what is in force, worst first, as severity (needs_a_look or do_not_rely) and title.
Example:
"integrity": {
"state": "not_relied_on",
"findings": [
{ "severity": "do_not_rely", "title": "A key field changed after the document was first saved" }
]
}
What we do not do
| Rule | |
|---|---|
| No scores and no tier numbers | Each finding is one plain line about the document |
| No automatic accusations | Extraction reports what it sees on the page. It never calls a document fake, forged, or genuine |
| A person reviews every hold | One check holds a document on its own: a key field changed in the file's save history. Every other hold is an operator's decision. An operator lifts any hold only with a written reason |
| No names across insureds | A document seen before reads "for another insured", with the date. It never names the insured or the customer |
| Facts from the record | Insurance Verified tells you what the document shows. It does not say anyone committed fraud |
Every finding, and every operator decision on one, is recorded in the audit trail with who made it and when.
What you can do
- Send documents through the API or the portal instead of forwarding screenshots.
- Ask insureds for the certificate from their agent instead of a photo of a screen.
- Tell us when a document looks wrong to you.