What is it?
A unique ID is printed on each box and covered with a coating that can be peeled off.
How do you detect it?
You scratch off the coating and send the unique ID by SMS to the phone number also printed on the box. A SMS is sent back to say if the product is authentic. This obviously works also with a variable QR-code read by a smartphone and sent to a website.
How does it work?
Each time a code is sent to the server (SMS or Internet site) for control, its legitimacy is checked and it is marked as “used.” So, if a counterfeit is manufactured with a wrong code or with a copied code, it will return as “fake.”
What do we think about this technology?
This technology is one of the few that is digital but will still work with any smartphone of any generation, for instance just using SMS. However, it has several drawbacks: it is rather complex to deploy (a scratch code and variable printing are required), it requires connectivity, and worst of all it is not reliable. Indeed, if a control is performed a second time on a genuine product, it will be indicated as fake. Conversely, if a counterfeit uses a code that has not yet been used, the system will consider it as genuine. Finally, cases have been reported where counterfeiters just added their own SMS phone number, which always answered “authentic.” In practice, from a reliability, deployment and user-friendliness point of view, it is much more effective to simply print a Cryptoglyph®.
Field of application
All types of carton boxes.
