A Colorado-based cannabis dispensary chain was shocked by the number of fake IDs uncovered in a trial-run of a forensic ID scanner in one of the stores.
“We had always assumed there were some fake IDs, but had no idea how prevalent it was”, said the chain owner who wished to remain anonymous. “Our selection of the Tokenworks’ IDentiFake for age verification was based largely on its cloud-based CRM interface which speeds up the retail process and protects against looping. The fake ID detection was initially considered an ancillary bonus, but the large number fakes we uncovered convinced us to immediately role it out in other dispensaries as part of our affirmative defense”.
Studies show that 40-60% of underage college students have a fake ID. Suppliers from China are flooding the market with IDs that appear to have the security features — such as microprint, infrared or UV images, holograms, readable data stripes, and perforations — of legitimate identification cards. That’s because they’re using similar tools to those used for government-issued IDs.
The dispensary owner stated: “We train our budtenders in visual ID verification, and even use data stripe scanners, but the quality of these fakes fooled both these techniques. The forensic scanner provided verifiable detection and removes the budtender from a subjective decision.”
The growing flood of high-quality fake IDs at cannabis dispensaries means it’s nearly impossible to detect these fakes through visual inspection, UV light, barcode scanning, or a combination of these traditional techniques. ID scanners, which have been used for age verification in the alcohol, tobacco, and casino industries for a couple of decades, are no longer up to the task of detecting fakes. TokenWorks’ IDentifake performs over 50 different forensic checks on every ID scanned, including holograms, micro-printing, ultraviolet and infrared images, and other ID-specific security features. Matching up against a library of real IDs from over 196 countries and all 50 US states, fake IDs are easily called out.
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