PennDOT Unveils Anti-Fraud Inspection Stickers'Optically Variable Device' Shows AuthenticityPOSTED: 12:51 p.m. EST January 17, 2003 HARRISBURG, Pa. -- In an effort to battle counterfeit inspection stickers, motorists who bring their cars in for inspection are now getting enhanced stickers that, among other
things, reveal their authenticity with a rainbow pattern.
State transportation officials unveiled the new stickers
Thursday at the Lancaster factory that helps make them.
The stickers feature an "optically variable device," which
shows up as bronze in color but reveals a rainbow pattern in direct
light, said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokeswoman
Joan Nissley.
The sticker includes other fraud-fighting features that are not
being publicly revealed for security reasons, transportation
officials said.
"Law enforcement will be aware of what to look for," said
Betty L. Serian, deputy secretary for the department's safety
administration.
Serian said the state has encountered some cases of counterfeit
stickers, but that "it's not a widespread problem."
State police cited 760 people in 2001 for using counterfeits or
altering inspection stickers, said spokesman Jack Lewis.
The state will pay $1 million for Applied Optical Technologies,
based in the United Kingdom, to manufacture as many as 13.5 million
inspection stickers, Nissley said. The company will perform the
first part of the manufacturing work at a plant in Lancaster, then
finish the stickers at a plant in Maryland, Serian said.
The contract represents a savings of about $200,000 over the
state's previous contract with American Decal Manufacturing Co. of
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