A new police tool has been launched by the international policing body Interpol and the G8 countries, enabling the policing community to exchange information on fraudulent identity and travel documents. Known as Dial-Doc (Digital Interpol Alert Library – Document), it lets officials in any of Interpol’s 190 member countries check if a travel document is fake, through comparison with worldwide images of counterfeit documents.
Dial-Doc is aimed at border management and transnational crime – identity fraud, human trafficking, terrorism, and financial crime. Lynn Lawless, Director, Enforcement and Intelligence Programs Management, Canada Border Services Agency, and representing the G8 Roma-Lyon Migration Experts Sub-Group, said: “This important reference tool for travel document fraud is the culmination of intensive and fruitful cooperation leveraging the combined expertise of INTERPOL and migration experts from the G8 countries. Dial-Doc will assist in the global fight against document and identity fraud and the criminal activity it facilitates,” she added.
Until now, Interpol member countries have circulated their own ‘alerts’ on fraudulent travel documents. Dial Doc is the data processing platform which regulates this information and makes it accessible to all Interpol member countries. Once the country submits their ‘alert’ to Interpol, a quality control activity is performed before final validation and its publication within the Interpol Information System.
Fabrizio Di Carlo, Dial-Doc Project Manager, said: “The launch of Dial-Doc represents a milestone in the fight against forged documents. We now encourage as many countries as possible to share data related to fraudulent travel documents in order to fulfil the potential of this vital law enforcement tool.”
Dial-Doc is a web-based application, available to authorised users via I-24/7, the global police communications system and its restricted-access website. Currently in English, the platform will be translated into Interpol’s three other official languages (Arabic, French and Spanish).
