Facial recognition technology has helped authorities in Ireland to catch an individual with two Personal Public Service numbers, according to the Irish Examiner. The PPS number is essentially Ireland’s version of a social security number, and is used to access a range of government services.
Hiadar Alnoor, a resident of Cork, was found to be holding a PPS number under that name and also another, Heyder Karrar Alowsawi, registered in Dublin. He doesn’t seem to have had any nefarious intentions in obtaining two PPS numbers; originally from Iraq, he suggested to an investigating lawyer that he had concerns about individuals in his home country tracking him down in Ireland. He hadn’t actually used his second PPS number for anything, so authorities were lenient in fining him €500 of the potential €1,500 maximum, and he was not sentenced to any prison time.
As the Irish Examiner reports, the dual PPS records were discovered in “a routine examination under facial recognition technology” by the Department of Social Protection and Family Affairs. The discovery helps to illustrate the benefits of such applications of facial recognition, which can help to clear up important mistakes in state records, as in this case, and can also help to discover more serious instances of identity fraud.
Source: Irish Examiner
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October 6, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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