Consent-based ID verification · Kenya
You're about to hand over a deposit, a job, or your keys — to someone you met last week. Hakiki is the two-minute step before you do: their ID checked against official records, and only after they say yes.
Already been burned by a fake ID? See why "just ask for a copy" doesn't protect you →
No YES, no check. That's the whole point.
How it works
You could spend a week asking around about someone. Or you could know in the time it takes to make chai.
Type the person's full name, national ID number and phone number. Takes about thirty seconds — from your phone, no app download needed.
Hakiki texts them exactly who is asking and why. Nothing happens until they reply YES. If they decline or ignore it, the check never runs — and you're automatically refunded.
ID validity and name match, checked against official government records. Saved to your dashboard with a consent receipt you can attach to a lease or contract.
Made for Kenyan trust decisions
Hakiki fits the moments where Kenyans hand over keys, stock, money — or the front door of their home.
A prospective tenant says he's David Otieno, works in Upper Hill, and can pay the deposit today. Hakiki confirms the ID is genuine and the name matches — before he moves into your apartment in Ruaka.
"Deposit ni deposit, lakini ID lazima ikubali."
Your new nanny starts Monday and will be alone with your children by Tuesday. Verify her ID tonight — with her consent — and file the receipt with her contract. She'll respect that you're serious.
"An agency said they'd vetted her. Hakiki showed me the proof."
A friend-of-a-friend joins your investment group's WhatsApp. Everyone contributes KES 5,000 monthly. Verify each new member before the merry-go-round starts — so nobody disappears with round one.
"Chama ya watu verified ni chama ya amani."
Pay-on-delivery order from a new customer: KES 38,000 of stock headed to the CBD. Verify the buyer first, so "mtu wa kuchukua" is a real person with a real ID — not a burner line.
"Since I started verifying, zero fake orders."
Self-drive hire to a first-time client for a weekend trip to Naivasha. Confirm the ID matches the person taking your vehicle — and keep the verification receipt with the hire agreement.
"The car is insured. Now the client is verified too."
Staffing agencies and HR teams run the same consent-first checks at scale through the Hakiki API — built straight into your onboarding flow, with bulk M-Pesa billing.
"One API call. One SMS. One clean hire."
See agency pricing →Njia ya zamani
It feels like due diligence. It isn't — and in Kenya it quietly moves the legal risk onto you.
And if it does turn out to be fake, you find out the same way everyone does — after the money is gone.
And personal data is deleted after 30 days — by us, on schedule, not by you remembering to.
Asking is polite. Verifying is the part that protects you both — and it's the part a photocopy was never able to do.
Verify properly insteadOne price · Lipa na M-Pesa
One fake ID can cost you a deposit, a month's stock, or a chama's savings. A Hakiki check costs less than fuel to go vet someone in person.
No subscription. No commitment. Pay only when you need to know.
Lipa na M-Pesa · STK push at checkout · No card required, ever.
Maswali
Then nothing happens. The check never runs, no data is pulled, and your M-Pesa payment is refunded automatically. Consent isn't a checkbox for us — it's the ignition key.
Whether the national ID is valid and active, whether the name you entered matches official records, the timestamp of consent, and a reference number. You don't see photos, addresses, or anything beyond what the decision needs.
Because a photocopy proves nothing — it shows a document existed, not that it's genuine or that it belongs to the person in front of you, and a convincing fake costs a few hundred shillings. It also makes you the custodian of someone's ID data under the Data Protection Act, 2019, with the duties that carries and no record of consent. Hakiki checks the ID against official records instead, and no copy ever enters your custody. The longer answer →
Hakiki is built around the Data Protection Act, 2019: verification runs on the person's explicit consent, collects the minimum data necessary, and keeps an auditable consent trail for both parties.
Kenyan national IDs today. Alien IDs and passports are on the roadmap — tell us what your business needs and we'll prioritise accordingly.
Yes — that's deliberate. The consent SMS names the requester, and the person can later request a record of who verified them and when. Transparency both ways is what makes people comfortable saying YES.
Anza leo
Trust, but verify. Your first check takes two minutes and costs KES 200 — a fraction of what one wrong stranger can cost you.
Run your first checkTap one (or more). Takes 5 seconds, helps us a lot.
Asante sana! 🙏Your feedback shapes what we build next.