I mentioned it in just in case it makes a difference that someone else handles the verification. Like PCI (for credit card processing), outsourcing it removes a lot of the cost and risk of doing it yourself and processing/storing all that sensitive PII.

At the end of the day, I don't think there's any non-governmental, non-biometric, non-financial way to really cross-check physical and online identities. It's gotta be tied into the real world somehow, and outsourcing it makes a lot more doable...

But yeah, if they don't want the user to have to provide documents at all, I think they're just SOL.