The MRZ strip is an important element of the security of an identity card: it contains the most critical information and ensures a thorough check of the authenticity of this information by preventing it from being forged.
In this article, we will see what are the most common cases of fraud and how to avoid them. Here we go!
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What is the information of an MRZ ID card?
We have written a very complete article about the information present in the MRZ strip of a French identity card version 1995 that you can find at the following address: Check the MRZ strip of an identity card.
Enjoy your reading!
Fraud on the first MRZ cni line
First of all, we will pay attention to the first 5 characters which are always the same: IDFRA.
This is followed by the holder’s surname, which must obviously correspond to the name indicated on the card itself and completed at the end by chevrons (”
Finally, the 6 digits at the end of the line correspond to the department on two or three digits (from February 2017 the department is coded on 3 digits with a prefix “0” if necessary, before this date the department represents the first 2 digits while the last represents the administration department), and finally the position number of the agent on three digits, again internal to the administration.
We can therefore check that the department corresponds to the one shown on the map and on the second line of the MRZ strip (see below).
Fraud on the second line
The second line begins with the date of issue of the identity card in 4 digits, in AAMM format: it is therefore necessary to be careful that this date is consistent and corresponds to the date of expiry of the document indicated on the back (10 years later).
The next three digits correspond to the department + digit for the administration service, and are therefore identical to the department found at the end of line 1 or on the map itself. In the case of a card issued after February 2017, only the two digits of the department are reported, without the “0”.
The next 5 digits are internal to the administration and therefore cannot be verified, or 6 digits if the card was issued after February 2017.
The next digit is a check digit for the first 12 characters of the 2nd line, which can be verified with a specialized service such as ours.
The following characters are the first names of the holder separated by a chevron ”
You can then find the date of birth in YYMMDD format, which is obviously possible to cross-reference with the one on the map.
Then a control key, again verifiable with our service.
Then the gender, “H” or “F”.
Then the global control key for both lines of the MRZ band.
Practical work: MRZ ID card
Case n°1
Can you detect the problem(s) on the map above?
Answer
Everything seems to be in order, but there are two things wrong!
– the date of issue of the document, “2022”: the year may be correct, but not the month because there are only 12 months in a year!
– the global validation key of the document is not correct (is equal to 7 but should be equal to 8), but you have to use a specialized service like ours to detect it
Case n°2
Can you detect the problem(s) on the map above?
Answer
Everything seems to be in order compared to the errors reported in case 1, but there are still three errors!
– the department of line 2 (characters 5 and 6) do not correspond to those of line 1!
– the card number (“202244110987”, indicated after “Identity card N°”) does not correspond to the first 12 digits of line 2!
– the control keys of line 2 are invalid
Case n°3
Can you detect the problem(s) on the map above?
Answer
Everything seems to be in order compared to the errors reported in case n°2, but there’s still an error!
– the number of characters in the MRZ strip is invalid (70 instead of 72)!
Conclusion
You are now able to detect the main changes observed on a French identity card!
It is advisable to use our service which will check your parts completely in a few minutes!
