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Detecting fraudulent identity documents focus of INTERPOL training

Instructors from INTERPOL’s Counterfeit Currency and Security Documents (CCSD) unit and its partner IDNow delivered the three-day (21 – 23 March) course hosted by the Ministry of Interior.

Participants were trained on the latest security features embedded in official government identity documents and provided practical exercises for identifying fraudulent documents including counterfeits, forgeries, and fraudulently-obtained documents.

“As the largest international law enforcement agency INTERPOL plays a critical role in supporting member states in combatting transnational crime. Security documents are increasingly being counterfeited or tampered with by criminals to facilitate transnational crime. This training programme will play an important role in improving capabilities for examining security documents and apprehending criminals,” said Lt. Col. Hamdan Al Yammahi, Deputy Director General, International Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Interior, Abu Dhabi.

IDNow Director of Document Management and Fraud Lovro Persen said: “As a specialist on detecting identity fraud, IDnow is very pleased to collaborate with INTERPOL and share its expertise in using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the detection of fake documents through training. Cooperation will help collective efforts to better fight identity fraud in a connected world. We can learn from each other and become more efficient and innovative.”

The use of INTERPOL global policing capabilities was also high on the training agenda, including its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, which holds more than 100 million records on a range of documents such as passports, identity cards, and visa stamps.

CCSD Coordinator Daniela Djidrovska said: “Training provides a vital opportunity to review best practices in the face of the continuous evolution of ID document fraud. This first joint INTERPOL-IDNow security document examination training focused on detecting various types of document fraud and will enhance the ability of border officers to recognize counterfeit security and travel documents.”

The three-day training also featured a number of incident case studies as well as country-specific presentations.