diff --git a/detect_secrets/plugins/ibm_cloud_iam.py b/detect_secrets/plugins/ibm_cloud_iam.py
index 43655b542..f5bb18473 100644
--- a/detect_secrets/plugins/ibm_cloud_iam.py
+++ b/detect_secrets/plugins/ibm_cloud_iam.py
@@ -42,20 +42,25 @@ class IBMCloudIAMDetector(RegexBasedDetector):
     ]
 
     def verify(self, token, **kwargs):
-        if type(token) == bytes:
-            token = token.decode('UTF-8')
-        headers = {
-            'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
-            'Accept': 'application/json',
-        }
-        response = requests.post(
-            'https://iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/token',
-            headers=headers,
-            data={
-                'grant_type': 'urn:ibm:params:oauth:grant-type:apikey',
-                'apikey': token,
-            },
-        )
+        response = verify_cloud_iam_api_key(token)
 
         return VerifiedResult.VERIFIED_TRUE if response.status_code == 200 \
             else VerifiedResult.VERIFIED_FALSE
+
+
+def verify_cloud_iam_api_key(apikey):  # pragma: no cover
+    if type(apikey) == bytes:
+        apikey = apikey.decode('UTF-8')
+    headers = {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
+        'Accept': 'application/json',
+    }
+    response = requests.post(
+        'https://iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/token',
+        headers=headers,
+        data={
+            'grant_type': 'urn:ibm:params:oauth:grant-type:apikey',
+            'apikey': apikey,
+        },
+    )
+    return response