Approach to Identifying Counterfeit Products with QR Codes and Computational Algorithms

The biggest challenge in the global market is Counterfeiting, it has undesirably affected consumer perception and damaged the brand reputation of the product. Recently few techniques used in the identification of counterfeit products include block chaining, RFID tags, and unique code techniques among others but they do not entirely control the existence of counterfeits in the market as well as losing their dependability and scalability. Consequently, these techniques are expensive and technologically advanced. This research presents a new approach based on reliable product authentication using QR code technology powered by mathematical computational algorithms. Employing implementing this system; however, customers can recognize fake goods and sustain the brand’s integrity. The proposed approach entails creating Unique QR codes for every product whose coded data contains the encrypted product information. These include product numbers, manufacturing dates as well as batch numbers of the products which are hashed and then encrypted with sophisticated computational algorithms; these two algorithms secure the product, one generating QR codes for a product containing information thereof and the other that confirms if the consumer is holding a genuine item using a mobile application. Through experimental results, it was evident that the system is highly accurate, reliable, and speedy since verification times averaged below 1 second. This research also outlines some of the strengths of the proposed system including enhanced product originality as well as potential limitations such as internet connectivity and initial set-up costs. In future work, we will optimize our encryption algorithm and expand to other products within the system’s coverage area.