The Hague, The Netherlands - Fraudsters are ever more resourceful in finding new ways to gain access to pin code numbers – but Stratus Packaging Group’s patented solution brings a whole new dimension to scratch-off pin code label security.    

Awarded a prize for innovation in the FINAT International Label Competition, Stratus Packaging’s IXcode label employs a novel variation on the system involving silver inks over the printed pin number which the customer needs to scratch off to display the pin.    Often employed today by banks, this system lays itself open to pin code theft through, for example, heating the scratch-off inks to make the number visible.

Tamper-evident solution

Such activity is not possible with the Stratus Packaging IXcode.   It is centred on making a substantial change to the structure of the label laminate that contains the pin number and anchors it to the base document.   One of the laminate components constitutes a stretchable ‘tongue’, which is then covered by tiny particles of black ink.   By stretching the tongue, the customer can make the pin number appear as the tiny ink particles are dispersed and disappear.   The stretchable material, however, will not shrink back to its original state, and cannot be replaced, so ready evidence of tampering is available to the customer.   The complex laminate – which involved extensive testing of different materials, adhesives, and inks and more than 100 hours of proving trials – effectively deters the efforts of the pin code thieves by making it impossible to conceal the fact that the label has been previously disturbed. 

‘One of our specialities at Stratus Packaging is in creating practical, effective labelling solutions within the security and traceability segment – which include tamper-evident seals, RFID labels, and the use of security inks’, comments Isidore Leiser, CEO of Stratus Packaging.  He explains:  ‘We developed the original IX-code concept and designs for a customer partner,  and today we produce them under exclusive mandate for the same partner, who is the owner of the patent.’

The reassuringly-simple way in which the IX-code works can be viewed here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_GSnQ_NcsE.   As winner of a major category prize in the self-adhesive label industry’s annual FINAT International Label Competition, the IXcode has received extensive recognition across Europe, North America, and further afield.