NCJ Number
186106
Journal
International Journal of Forensic Document Examiners Volume: 5 Dated: December/January 1999 Pages: 411-414
Date Published
1999
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the investigative techniques used in obtaining evidence of credit card counterfeiting.
Abstract
The counterfeiters purchased magnetic strips, embossers, and other equipment used in manufacturing credit cards. Photographic negatives of popular credit cards were used to make semi-finished products. This paper describes the examinations conducted on various components of suspected counterfeit credit cards. The design of a credit card is largely based on the registered trade mark of the company that issues the card. Several measures are taken by credit card companies to protect the card from being forged and to assist in detecting forgeries. These are the use of a hologram, which cannot be removed and transferred to another card without carrying the embossed numerals over the hologram; fluorescent image, which uses ultraviolet ink to print unique patterns on the credit card; micro-sign printing, which cannot be discerned easily at a glance; fine-line printing beneath the major logo of the bank that issues the card, making counterfeiting more difficult and the identification of a bogus card much easier; technical treatment on the signature strip; and the high resolution of off-set prints used in making original credit cards, which can be used to expose inferior reproduction methods that use lower resolution. 6 figures