No chance for counterfeiters

When police inspectors on TV investigate crimes, or James Bond 007 chases criminals with fake names, they are mostly dealing with counterfeiters who are able to produce IDs and documents that look almost like the original.

What sounds like fiction is the tough daily routine of criminal investigators and Interpol. The increasing number of counterfeit IDs prompted the government of Great Britain to make it more difficult for criminals to produce fake driver’s licenses.

This means that 40 million British driver’s licenses will be re-issued. The new documents in credit card size are made of Makrofol, a polycarbonate film based on Makrolon from Bayer MaterialScience. The material helps the new British driver’s licenses setting global standards in terms of counterfeit protection.

“Unlike other card materials, for example, our film enables very high-contrast personalization using laser engraving, including a photo and signature of the license holder. The printed image is created inside the card and cannot be modified without damaging the film structure,” explains Cengiz Yesildag, Head of Sales & Global Key Account Manager Cards at Bayer MaterialScience.

Special techniques and security features make it virtually impossible to counterfeit the driver’s license. Individual layers made of Makrofol® ID are fused so firmly together during the lamination process that the driver’s license becomes a single compact piece of polycarbonate. But this is not the only feature that makes counterfeiting difficult. The innovative film is also extremely durable and tough. Even after frequent bending in handbags and wallets, or after being exposed to high temperatures on the dashboard, the material maintains its original shape.

In the future, James Bond’s opponents will have to come up with other ideas to make his life difficult. Thanks to these innovations not only criminals in Great Britain will run into problems when trying to counterfeit IDs.