- A minor girl collapsed of “Molly” overdose outside at a nightclub and was rushed to the hospital. It was later found that the woman had not yet turned 18 unlike her friends and had illegally sneaked in using a phony ID. Who is responsible? Is it the patrons who bring in and use potentially harmful drugs? Is it the clubs that fail to catch crafty minors who slip through bouncers using a fake ID?
- A man had his jaw broken and was knocked unconscious in Fortitude Valley, Sydney after being allegedly sucker punched following an altercation with two men outside of a club. Police later used ID scanner information and CCTV to identify one of the offenders who fled from the scene, and he was later charged with inflicting bodily harm.
Sadly, minors sneaking into clubs, alcohol-fuelled violence and drug peddling in bars and pubs is a chilling reality. Widespread scrutiny in Australia’s Queensland has led to the government coming up with a clever solution. This includes the implementation of ID scanners in clubs.
ID Scanners for Identity Verification in Clubs
Billed as a safe way to have fun, Queensland’s Safe Night Precincts mandates ID scanners for Identity Verification at clubs that trade after midnight. The government-mandated trial of ID scanning technology helped clubs to enforce bans on unruly patrons, which can be up to 12 months for court-imposed bans or 10 days for police bans.
The trial was first announced in October 2013 and commenced in July 2014. The Accord implemented at 35 high-risk licensed venues in Sydney’s Kings Cross, requires photo identification to be electronically scanned into a linked system to ban an individual across all venues.
The ID scanners in clubs capture name, date of birth, address and photograph of all patrons entering the venues. Banned patrons are fined up to $5,500 for entering or attempting to enter any high-risk venue during the course of a ban. The data is held for 30 days and the scanners are typically set to operate between 9 p.m. until 1:30 a.m.
The ID scanners for identity verification at clubs have been useful to police in identifying and apprehending suspects. Some examples of crime detected by ID scanners at clubs:
- A woman was fined $1,000 after throwing an object at another female patron during a brawl at a hotel, breaking the patron’s nose and cutting her face. The law enforcement identified the women by using ID scanner information and CCTV footage.
- In 14 months of implementation there were 17 breaches of long-term banning orders detected by the ID scanners. A penalty notice of $2,200 or maximum court imposed fines of up to $11,000 were imposed upon those who breached long-term banning orders.
Customers forced to hand over their details at nightclubs believe their data could end up with crooks. However, this shouldn’t be a concern. The data would be handled by the third party ID scanning technology companies who are well equipped with secure servers, and not the venue owners. Under robust privacy laws, identity verification services are required to comply to ensure effective and intended outcomes of using the ID scanning technology.
The biggest challenge in the identity verification process, however, lies in the identification documents itself. Even though nightspots are in a much better position to tackle identity fraud, crafty minors and banned night-goers are notoriously inventive and much harder to beat.
Experts at IDMERIT have spent years spotting fake documents in a quest to develop a smart intelligence system to verify the authenticity of an identity document. We are in regular touch with identity fraud experts and law enforcement agencies such as the border patrol, primarily to strengthen the security against fraudulent use of IDs.
IDMERIT’s live ID Scanning technology ‘IDMscan’ is available 24/7 and verifies government issued IDs from over 90+ countries. The ID scan application is capable of performing optical character recognition (OCR), face recognition, data recording, barcode reading and personal data verification. Depending on the type of document, the barcode data, holographic security features and ID photo along with the digital information stored on the identity document’s chip or magnetic stripe is run against pre-stored data on IDMscan’s database to verify IDs virtually and instantly. IDMscan is designed to save time and costs associated with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, increase customer conversions and reduce fraud.
About IDMERIT
IDMERIT is a global consumer and business verification portal. We help customers across industries and government sectors predict, assess, and manage risks by combining next-generation risk management and anti-fraud services. Our warehouse of unique data and advanced analytics tools to address evolving client needs can help you automate decision making while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy.
We work closely with world-class niche organizations offering data warehousing and validity of contact data solutions to ensure they are compliant with the Foreign Nationals Employment Act, the Compulsory Identification Act, Counter-Terrorism Act, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Our company powers the global identity ecosystem for customers.
For more information on IDMERIT’s identity verification services, you can drop us a line through the Contact Us page or call us at (888)-378-9283.
