Veralys

The sharp rise in the number of requests for investigations into the detection of forged documents resulting from refugee and migration flows is overwhelming many security authorities, as their processes are often outdated and paper-based. Many of these documents contain few or no security features, meaning that forgery can often only be detected by comparing them with genuine material – which, in turn, is often impossible to source without a digital solution. The situation is similar in the private sector, where there is generally even less expertise in detecting forgeries. Yet forged documents cause considerable economic damage; the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office estimates this at up to 60,000 euros for each case of false identity. Faster and more secure processing would bring benefits and significant savings to both the applicant and the state. For this reason, the VERALYS research project (formerly DOKIQ) was launched in 2020 at the Hochschule der Medien (HdM) in cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA BW). This resulted in an AI-supported processing and investigation environment that can be used to accelerate the authentication and verification of documents.