Avellino – He showed an electronic ID card with a removed microchip and got into trouble. Carabinieri officers from the Baiano station, during a routine check in Quadrelle, reported a 28-year-old man from the Baiano district to the judicial authorities for the crime of material forgery.
When asked for his documents, the young man produced a CIE, which immediately aroused the officers' suspicions: the microchip wasn't simply damaged, but surgically removed, with a clean cut in the plastic, preventing the correct reading of the biometric and digital data contained within. Consequently, the document—although originally authentic—was formally deemed counterfeit and seized.
A national trend, not an isolated case
According to the Carabinieri of the Avellino Provincial Command, the incident is not isolated, but is part of a growing nationwide phenomenon: the voluntary removal of microchips from electronic identity cards.
The practice is adopted by those seeking to avoid digital identification and circumvent automated checks, hindering verification systems at airports, banks, and public offices that require scanning the electronic component of the CIE.
In some cases, the choice is also based on conspiracy theories that have spread in recent years, according to which the microchip allows a form of digital "tracking" of citizens: a mistaken belief that, however, pushes some people to tamper with the document, ignoring the criminal consequences.
What the law says: without a chip, the CIE is "false"
The issue received clear case law in the summer of 2026. The Court of Cassation, addressing a pilot case handled by the Genoa Prosecutor's Office, ruled that an electronic identity card without a microchip is considered a false document.
According to the Supreme Court, the microchip is an "essential element" of the CIE because it ensures the document's identification function, integrating visual data (photo, personal details) with biometric and digital data. Its removal substantially alters the card, which loses part of its functionality and overall legal significance: hence, the crime of material forgery can be constituted and the document can be confiscated.
In recent months, similar incidents have been recorded in several provinces: from Lombardy (Pandino, Casalpusterlengo) to Umbria (Bastia Umbra, Assisi), up to the Marche and Campania, with numerous seizures of tampered CIEs and reports of forgery.
Consequences for the citizen
In addition to the criminal aspect, tampering with the CIE also entails administrative consequences: the document becomes unusable for services that require electronic reading (for example, certain accesses to counters, enhanced identification procedures, airport verification systems) and the holder is left without a fully valid document.
The Carabinieri of Avellino emphasize that the prevention and repression of these crimes continues daily, with targeted checks throughout the area and collaboration with other police forces to combat the phenomenon.
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