Grandma’s Selfie Chaos Shows Government Fraud Fix Still Elusive

Last spring, my 79-year-old grandma in Ohio—and her flip phone—met the government’s online security system.

To redirect her Social Security check to a new bank account, she needed to pass through ID.me, a cybersecurity company that has become a digital gatekeeper for federal services and has used selfies to verify Americans are who they say they are.

Mom took out her iPhone, snapped a photo of Grandma, and uploaded it to the company’s website before the timer expired. She and my aunt repeated this several times—and still couldn’t log in to the website, which required a photo as a biometric ...