Belgians warned of vulnerability to fake IDs from AI, digital copies Belgium’s federal police have sounded the alarm about AI-driven identity fraud affecting individuals across the country. The scams described in The Brussels Times are unsophisticated facial portrait swaps within photos of ID documents, which Belgian digital services and public transit ticket inspectors will accept as proof of identity. Federal police told Flemish-language public broadcaster VRT there have been more than 10,000 victims within the past 12 months. Authorities have warned the public that even a poor quality photograph of an ID card can be used to steal data, including the facial photo used in biometric matching by services like online loan applications and ecommerce sites. VRT recounts the difficulties of an individual whose ID card was surreptitiously photographed two years ago. He has received dozens of fines for fare evasion on public transport since, as enforcement officers unquestioningly accept digital copies of his ID presented by perpetrators. Transit operator SNCB-NMBS has begun introducing an ID verification software tool released by Belgium’s government called Checkdoc in response to the situation. In the meanwhile, the report from VRT shows a digital fake ID being accepted by some transit workers, and rejected by another in a part of the system where its frequent fraudulent use has been flagged. The report notes the launch of the country’s actual digital ID later this year could improve the situation by providing a credential that can be digitally verified. Protecting ID document-based verification The frequent cases of unsophisticated ID fraud could be curbed by biometric verifications, but the exposure of ID documents can also fuel another, more sophisticated fraud method. Biometric facial morphing consists of combining two images so that the resulting image matches the biometrics of both individuals, and is one of the most pressing