Updated
A video KYC call is mostly the same five minutes, repeated all day: take consent, ask for the ID, read it, check it against the application, ask a couple of questions, write it up. It’s careful work, and most of it doesn’t need a person’s judgement until the end.
A LlamaCalls agent can run that first pass. It talks to the customer on a video call, asks them to hold their ID up to the camera, looks at it, and compares what it reads with what the customer says. Your team gets the recording and the transcript, and makes the decision.
How the agent sees the ID
Turn on Sees video for the agent and it gets a look tool. When an answer depends on what’s on camera, it takes a look at the customer’s video right then. It doesn’t stare at the feed the whole call. It looks when there’s something to see, such as a card held up to the lens.
If the picture is no good, it says so, just as a person would: “there’s a bit of glare, could you tilt it slightly?” If the camera is off, it knows it can’t see anything and asks the customer to turn it on, instead of pretending.
Setting up the call
You describe the agent in a sentence, for example: “A KYC officer for a bank, opening savings accounts, polite and precise.” LlamaCalls drafts a role card from that and you edit it. Three parts carry a KYC call.
Steps
The order the call runs in. A typical one:
- Introduce itself, say the call is recorded, and ask for consent.
- Ask the customer to hold their ID up to the camera, and read it.
- Ask for the date of birth and check it against the card.
- Ask what the account is for.
- Close the call and tell the customer what happens next.
Rules
- Don’t continue without a clear yes to recording.
- If the card can’t be read, ask for a better angle rather than guessing.
- Never tell the customer they are approved. A person decides that.
- Never read the full ID number back out loud.
Where it checks the application
To compare the card with an application, the agent needs to reach the application. Connect the tool it lives in, such as Notion, HubSpot or your own system through an MCP server, and the agent can look the record up during the call.
What it doesn’t do
Video KYC is regulated, so it’s worth being exact about where the agent stops.
- It isn’t a document-forgery or liveness check. It reads a card the way a person on a video call would. It doesn’t detect tampered documents or replayed video.
- It doesn’t query government databases. It checks only what it can see and what it can reach through the tools you connect.
- Its face comparison is an observation, not a biometric match. Treat “the photo looks like the caller” as a note for the reviewer.
- It doesn’t replace a regulated process. Where the rules require an official on the call (India’s RBI KYC Master Direction does for video KYC), use the agent to practise or pre-screen, and keep a person in the decision.
Who builds this on LlamaCalls
| Who | What they build |
|---|---|
| Fintech and lending teams | A pre-screening call before a human officer signs off |
| Compliance trainers | A practice customer, with ID problems, for new KYC officers |
| Marketplaces | A first-pass seller or host check, reviewed by the trust team |
| Product teams | A prototype of a video onboarding flow before building their own |
The record
Every call is saved with a full transcript you can download. Turn on recording and you also get the video, with both the agent and the customer on screen, so a reviewer can watch the moment the card was shown.
Languages
The agent runs in any of 13 languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Malay, Spanish and Portuguese, and listens and replies in that language for the whole call.
What it costs
A KYC call needs the camera, and most teams give the agent a face too, which is $0.08 a minute. A five-minute verification costs $0.40. No subscription: you top up credit and calls are billed by the second.
Getting started
- Sign up and describe the agent in a sentence: who it verifies, and for what.
- Turn on Sees video, then edit the steps and rules.
- Connect the tool your applications live in, if you want it to check them.
- Call it from the browser, turn your camera on, and hold up an ID.