As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure the safety of all of your customers. Whether you own a bar, nightclub, or concert venue, it’s important to make sure that every one of your customers is legally allowed to be there. Underage drinking is becoming a bigger problem as more and more people begin to use fake IDs. With new technology, fake IDs are looking more realistic than ever and can be hard to spot without the right equipment. So how are today’s establishments spotting fake IDs? This article is going to discuss a few ways businesses can catch people trying to use fake IDs.

One increasingly popular tactic is to use smartphone applications to scan driver’s licenses and determine if they’re fake or not. Over the past few years, more and more police departments are using these apps, especially alcohol enforcement officers. Because it’s often difficult to determine if an ID is legitimate by a visual inspection, these apps allow officers to quickly determine if an ID is fake. Last year alone, 10 states began using these smartphone apps that act as a magnetic stripe reader to draw on databases containing information from various motor vehicle departments. In seconds, the magnetic stripe card reader can verify the information stored on the ID. These driver license reader apps have seriously changed the game when it comes to catching fake ID users.

Another popular tactic is using driver license reader devices. Businesses around the world are investing in high-tech ID scanners to ensure everyone entering their establishment is legally allowed to be there. Because of today’s almost perfect fake IDs, these scanning devices are often necessary to tell the difference between a fake and a real ID. These driver license readers are able to detect even minor differences between real and fake IDs, allowing businesses to quickly and efficiently catch fake ID users.

With about 218 million people having had driver’s licenses in 2015 alone, there are bound to be even more IDs, both real and fake, being used today. Because letting in underage patrons is not only illegal but a liability to other patrons’ safety and wellbeing, it’s absolutely crucial for today’s businesses to possess the necessary ID readers to allow them to prevent the use of fake IDs.