Tampered Electronic ID Cards: Four Cases in One Day in Naples

Il Mattino reports that four people were arrested or reported within 24 hours in the province of Naples for possessing counterfeit or tampered electronic identity cards, known in Italy as the Carta d'identità elettronica, or CIE.

The reported cases were spread across Soccavo, the Mercato area, Marano and Capri. The available reporting does not independently confirm the incidents through a police statement or court document, and it does not establish whether the four cases were connected.

One case involved a 22-year-old from Mugnano who was found in Marano with a CIE whose microchip had been removed. In another case, a person who went to a Carabinieri station to report the loss of an identity document presented a damaged CIE and was reported for material falsification by a private individual. A further tampered document was found in Capri. The reporting does not provide full identities, precise times or case numbers for all four incidents, nor does it establish how many involved arrest rather than a formal report.

The microchip matters because it supports the CIE's electronic identification and authentication functions. According to the report, removing it alters the document and can compromise those functions.

The article also points to a possible illicit reuse of removed chips to create false documents, but presents this as a possibility rather than an established fact. It is not established from the available material that any removed chip was actually reused in another document or identity fraud.

Checking a CIE and what to do if something looks wrong

The report describes the IDEA app, developed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, which can use the NFC reader on compatible Android smartphones to read CIE chip data and help check whether the document is authentic and matched to its holder.

It advises against using a CIE that is visibly damaged or suspected of tampering, and recommends seeking verification from the issuing office. It also advises contacting the Carabinieri if anomalies or suspected misuse are detected.