India, Feb. 19 -- To curb the rise of conmen extorting innocent people by posing as policemen, the Mumbai police force has decided to introduce new metallic identity cards with a photo of the policeman embossed onto them. The new ID cards will have a Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip that allows short-range wireless communication with other policemen, and a Quick Response (QR) code that will enable citizens to verify if the policeman is genuine or not.

Recently, the police have been grappling with cases of frauds posing as policemen and either extorting money from people or defrauding senior citizens under several pretexts. "We have in the past appealed to the city residents to dial the police control room or reach out to the nearest p...