KUALA LUMPUR: Syndicates forging Malaysian identification documents have upped the game in their illicit trade.
The authorities admitted that the war with the syndicates is a hard one to win.
Telling the fake from genuine documents is a huge challenge for the National Registration Department (NRD) unless the authorities have, at their disposal, a chip reader.
Department director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah said syndicates invested in sophisticated equipment that could produce MyKad and passports that were “almost the real thing”, save for details embedded in the chips.
Even security features, such as the holographic and ghost images on the MyKad, were copied.
“Their technology has improved, so it is difficult for untrained eyes to tell if the documents are fake.
“The only thing that safeguards real MyKad holders is the chip.
“Although the fake ones look real, the chips are unreadable.
“That is how we tell them apart from real MyKad,” he said, adding that this verification process could only be carried out with a ultraviolet scanner or a chip reader.
Razin said NRD had been conducting operations to detect fake MyKad holders.