Identity Theft and Financial Fraud Research and Operations Center

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds should be used for purposes recommended by Congress.

The University of Nevada - Las Vegas will use the grant funds to develop and secure identification technologies that will mitigate against currently effective identity theft and financial fraud criminal activity; counterfeiting or improper use of permits, licenses, and event passes; and misuse of access cards and room keys. This will include but not be limited to the experimentation, design, implementation, and testing of credential creation and validation technology that may include biometrics, encryption, and multimedia techniques within a variety of machine-readable media (ID cards, credit and debit cards, RFID cards, and smart cards); limited distribution media (event tickets, event passes, and airline tickets on safety papers, chemically coated paper, reactive paper, embedded laminates); and in a variety of different formats (magnetic stripes, 1-D and 2-D barcodes, holograms, kinegrams, and watermarks). This project will focus on ephemeral credentialing for crisis management and secure commerce in the hospitality, gaming, and entertainment industries. In both cases, formal requirements will be determined through interviews with stakeholders from law enforcement and the hospitality industry. Current stakeholders include the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Clark County Sheriff's Office, the Las Vegas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the UNLV College of Hotel Administration and its International Gaming Institute, Clark County, and several hospitality industry leaders.

NCA/NCF