While waiting hours in line at the MVA can be enough of a reason for people to not smile in their pictures, there is now a more important reason: to try to stop identity theft. A new “no smiling†policy in place in Virginia, Indiana, Arkansas and Nevada is meant to assist new photo recognition software that can detect if someone is trying to have a driver’s license created in someone else’s name thus helping the fight against identity theft.
Each time an MVA employee takes a driver’s license picture the image is digitally scanned and checked against a database of previous pictures. Thus, if the person in question already has a driver’s license under another name the employee will be able to notify the proper authorities of the potential fraud taking place and, with notification to the affected individual, may actually protect them from a messy identity theft situation.
So where does the no smiling come in? The software has a hard time matching up photos of the same person if they don’t have the same facial expression in both of them. A universal rule not allowing smiles will help to insure that all the photos match up like they should.
Although people’s faces will change over time, the key points the software checks for usually stay basically the same, which means the software should work for many years, even if a person gets a license and then comes back for a fake one long after.
You may be wondering how a person can get a license in another person’s name anyway. Sadly, it is easier than you think. An FBI representative recently told USA Today that in many areas it is very easy to get a copy of someone else’s birth certificate, which is basically all you need to “prove†you are who you say you are. In fact, cases of license fraud in Virginia have been so rampant as of late that the state has shut down production operations at 74 regional MVA offices in favor of issuing all licenses at a central location. Much of this fraud was due to employees selling fake driver’s licenses themselves, not any large scale identity theft ring.
When people get their hands on fraudulent driver’s licenses, they can:
*Buy alcohol and cigarettes illegally
*Get into places their age does not permit them access to
*Falsify employment documents
*Get credit and other accounts they shouldn’t be eligible for
*Obtain medical treatment using someone else’s insurance
*Commit crimes in someone else’s name
One example just recently of this activity occurred when a Philadelphia woman “borrowed†an ex-coworker’s ID and used it when purchasing an airline ticket. Oh, and she happened to be faking a child abduction at the time. She got the license by telling her coworker she needed it for some office documents, a seemingly innocent request until the license later appeared in the hands of the police.
So don’t hand out your ID and don’t smile at the MVA. Instead smile when you don’t become one of the millions of victims of identity theft. Having your finances in tact will definitely put a grin on your face. Learn more about identity theft protection today.