Private club verification

As AI Improves, Anyone Can Sound Like a Member.

From new members clubs in Soho to century-old city and university clubs, membership is the key to the door, and cloned voices can now borrow it.

Trust Onion puts identity verification in an app branded as your club. Don’t trust the voice. Verify the member.

Book a security review For security teams: how it’s secured
A woman around 30 with short natural hair and a camel coat stands by the discreet door of a members club on a Soho street at dusk, holding a phone to her ear.
Voice match: passed Member
A membership manager in a dark blazer sits at the front desk of a modern members club with green velvet banquettes and brass lamps, phone to his ear.
Membership team
INCOMING CALL · AMARA OKAFOR “Theo, it’s Amara. Two friends are coming tonight. Put them on my tab and let them up without me.”
MEMBERSHIP TEAM “Of course, Amara. I’ll tell the door now.”

The next call from her might not be her.

The ground shifted

Confirm it’s the member, even when every check passes

An attacker who controls a member’s inbox and phone number, and has cloned her voice, can pass each check below.

Your staff know members by name, by voice and by habit. AI copies the voice: a clone built from about 15 seconds of public audio, from an Instagram story, a podcast or an after-dinner speech, can sound like a member your door team greets every week. Recognizing that voice was the check your staff trusted most, and it no longer holds on its own.

  1. The inbox

    A phishing link or a reused password gives the attacker the member’s email, so email confirmation passes and her calendar shows when she is away.

    • Email confirmation: incorrectly passed
  2. The number

    A SIM swap or carrier port-out moves the member’s phone number, so caller ID matches and a callback reaches the attacker.

    • Caller ID: incorrectly passed
    • Callback: incorrectly passed
  3. The voice and face

    About 15 seconds of public audio can be enough to clone a voice, and a video call can be faked the same way. See how easy it is.

    • Voice recognition: incorrectly passed
    • Video call: incorrectly passed
  4. The request

    Guests let in on the member’s name tonight, a new card on file, or a booking moved to a stranger, while the member is said to be away.

    • Every check incorrectly passed
It was never her

What are the words?

Each device generates the three words locally. They rotate every 60 seconds, out of reach of anyone holding only the inbox and number.

Demo brand
The Marlowe Club
Member requests

#1187 · Guest room · Charged to account

Amara Okafor (phone)

Caller verification
Live words
Demo brand
9:41
Marlowe
Member Verification

WITH THE CLUB

Rotates every 60 secondsGenerated on this phone

  • CLUB · MEMBER REQUEST The three words, on the member’s request.
  • MEMBER · AMARA’S PHONE The same three words, on her phone.
  • EVERY 60 SECONDS Both change at the same moment. A caller holding only her inbox and number doesn’t have them.
Amara’s phone and the club’s member request show the same three words, changing together every 60 seconds.

Every direction

Members can verify the club, and each other.

Attackers impersonate members to get guests through the door and charges onto tabs, impersonate the club to take card details and payments for events, and impersonate members to each other. One app covers every one of those calls.

The same three live words verify a member calling the club and the club calling a member. Members also verify each other and their families in their own groups, with words the club never sees.

When a member calls the club

Your staff verify the member

Your staff ask, “What are the words?” The member reads all three from their Marlowe ID Verify app, and your staff check them on the request before acting.

When the club calls a member

Members verify the club

The member asks, “What are the words?” Your staff read all three from the club view, and the member checks them in their app before sharing anything.

“Amara, it’s membership. Your renewal card was declined, and your spot goes to the waitlist tonight. Could you read me a new one?” If the caller can’t give the words, Amara hangs up.

When members call each other

Members and their families verify each other

Members set up their own groups in the same Marlowe ID Verify app, with three words the club never sees. When a fellow member calls Amara from a new number asking her to cover a table and pay her back later, Amara asks, “What are the words?” before she does anything.

The rule never changes: whoever places the call says the words. Whoever answers checks them.

What’s at stake

Protect the trust a single call could break

The cost of one false call reaches well past the bill it runs up.

A porter in a dark suit stands at the mahogany front desk of a marble club entrance hall, phone to his ear, reading a leather bound ledger.
  • The house. A stranger let in on a member’s name walks the same rooms as every other member and their guests.
  • The members. Card details, addresses and travel plans given to a false caller expose members well beyond the club.
  • The discretion. A club is trusted to keep its members’ affairs quiet, and one fraud can bring lawyers, insurers and the press inside.

The new standard

Verify every request in seconds, and escalate any doubt

Your staff match three live words against the request in one question. For doubtful requests, a signed live selfie adds proof, and your house sign-off still runs before anything changes.

  1. The member calls. Their device generates three live words in the club’s app, and the words rotate every 60 seconds.

  2. Your staff see the same words. They appear on the request in the club view.

  3. The member confirms. Your staff ask “What are the words?” and the member reads them aloud.

  4. Any doubt, a Proofie™. Your staff request a live selfie, signed by the member’s passkey after a Face ID, fingerprint, or passcode check. The signature covers the exact photo plus the time and place, and any edit breaks verification.

Demo brand
9:41
Marlowe
Member Verification

WITH THE CLUB

Violet Crown Willow

New words in 42s

Rotates every 60 secondsGenerated on this phone

Steps 1 to 3
Demo brand
9:41

Proofie™ request

The Marlowe Club asked for a Proofie™ to confirm a request.

Take a live selfie. Your passkey signs it after Face ID, fingerprint, or passcode.

Take Proofie™
Step 4: the request
Demo brand

Face ID unlocked the key

Amara Okafor taking a Proofie selfie in the club lounge while a face scan maps her face.

Fingerprint watermark

Proofie™

MCl4…p9Xe

Signed with
Passkey (P-256)
Not before
Arbitrum One #472,918,305
Place (signed)
London, United Kingdom
Owner controls
Password protected · Delete any time

Verified by Marlowe

Step 4: verified

Swipe for the next screen

Inside your member requests

Every phoned-in request starts with verification

When a member asks by phone for guest access, a charge to their account or a change of details, the three live words appear on the request in the club view. Your staff ask one question, confirm the match, and the request moves to your duty manager with the check recorded.

Nothing replaces your house rules or your duty manager’s sign-off. The manager sees the request was verified before approving it, and when your policy calls for it, your staff request a Proofie™ from the same screen. We set up the club view in our console or inside the membership system your team already uses.

Demo brand
The Marlowe Club
Member requests

#1187 · Guest room · Charged to account

Amara Okafor (phone)

Caller verification
Live words
Violet Crown Willow
New words in 42s

Ask: What are the words?

Request Proofie™
Confirm match Verified
Second approver
Hannah Price Duty Manager Awaiting approval

Caller check recorded · 9:41 AM

Theo: What are the words?

Amara: Violet Crown Willow.

For your members

Members carry a safety app that bears your club’s name

Members get a verification app in your club’s name, published under your own App Store and Google Play accounts. We build, submit, and maintain it.

  • A welcome screen in your brand. The first thing members see is your club’s name and mark.
  • Set up in a minute. Your club invites each member, and the app opens ready, with the club group already set up.
  • A group for every relationship. The club shares a group with each member, and members set up their own groups for family. Each group has its own three words.
  • A welcome letter on your letterhead. It introduces the app and the one question that now runs both ways.
Demo brand
9:41
Marlowe

Welcome to Marlowe ID Verify

When you call the club, three words confirm it’s you. When we call you, ask us for them.

Get started
Demo brand
9:41

Your groups

With the club

You, Membership, Front desk, Reservations

Family

You, Mum, Tobi, Ife

Each group has its own three words. The club only sees words for groups it’s in.

Invite family

Swipe for the next screen

Demo brand

Dear Amara,

When you call the club, we will now ask one question: “What are the words?” You’ll find them in Marlowe ID Verify, our app for your phone.

It works both ways. When the club calls you, ask us for the words. You can also set up your own groups for calls with your family; we never see those words.

Our house rules and sign-offs stay in place.

See you soon,

Theo Chen
Membership Director, The Marlowe Club

Scales with the risk

Match the check to the risk your committee defines

Your verification policy sets the thresholds, and we help you write it. Your staff escalate to a Proofie™ when a threshold or trigger applies.

Set by your verification policy

Routine requests

The three words, on every call your policy treats as routine.

When all apply

  • Bookings and charges in the usual pattern
  • Known guests and known card on file
  • No urgency or secrecy
  • The member is reachable as usual
  • Words given promptly and correctly
  • Nothing feels off

Threshold: set by your verification policy

Three words

Set by your verification policy

Elevated requests

The three words and a Proofie™, whenever your policy’s triggers apply or anything feels off.

When any applies

  • Guest access without the member present
  • A new card, address or bank detail
  • Urgency, or a request to keep it quiet
  • The member is abroad or hard to reach
  • Words slow, wrong or refused
  • Anything feels off

Threshold: set by your verification policy

Three words + Proofie™

The return

Know the member on the line is real

$16B+ in losses reported to the FBI in 2024 859,532 complaints of suspected internet crime in the same year 33% increase in reported losses from 2023

Source: FBI, FBI Releases Annual Internet Crime Report, April 2025.

  • Verified identity. Three words and a Proofie™, for calls where voice, face, caller ID and email can all be faked.
  • A check your staff can trust. One question replaces a judgment call about whether a voice on the line is the member’s.
  • Members who feel looked after. A safety app in your club’s name, for calls to the club and calls at home.
  • A door that stays closed. Guest access on a member’s name waits for the member’s words.
  • Past the callback. When the number itself is swapped, a callback reaches the attacker. The three words never do.
  • Discretion, kept. Fewer frauds means fewer lawyers, insurers and headlines inside the club.

Questions

What private clubs ask us first

How does a club verify a member on a phone call?

The member and the club share three words that rotate every 60 seconds in an app branded as your club. When a member calls, your staff ask “What are the words?” and check the answer before acting. A voice clone can copy how a member sounds, but not the three words on their phone.

Does it suit a new members club as well as a historic one?

Yes. The app carries your club’s name and look, whether your house opened last year in Soho or a century ago on a city avenue. Members who live on their phones set it up in a minute, and members who prefer to ring the front desk use the same one question.

Does it replace our house rules and sign-offs?

No. It adds a check before them. Callbacks fail when an attacker has moved the member’s phone number, and the three words still hold when that happens. Your sign-offs run as they do today.

Can members check that a call really comes from the club?

Yes. Whoever places the call says the words, and whoever answers checks them. If someone calling from “the club” can’t give the words, the member hangs up and calls back on a number they know.

What if a member is abroad or offline?

The words are generated on the member’s phone and work without a connection, so they are there wherever the member is.

Is it easy for every member to use?

Yes. There is one question to remember, “What are the words?”, and the answer is on the app’s first screen. Your staff can help a member set it up on their next visit.

Who can see the words, and where are the keys?

Your staff see the current words for the groups your club is in, never the key. Each group key sits in a secure enclave on the deployment server and on each member’s phone.

Whose name do members see?

Your club’s. The app carries your club’s name and crest, published under your own App Store and Google Play accounts.

Who can see a Proofie™?

The member who takes it controls it: each Proofie™ can be password protected and deleted at any time. A Proofie™ your staff request is shared with your club.

Next step

Make the next call to the club a little more certain

Send this page to your security team, then book a review with us before you decide.

Your security team can test how the three words and Proofies™ work, and where your house rules and sign-offs fit.

“Before I arrange anything: what are the words?”