To prevent abuse those people processing applications for services must check and verify the identity of the ID cardholder. This will have to be done correctly or else the card becomes as secure as any other bit of plastic with a photo stuck to it.
In a recent case highlighted by the BBC a man managed to fly to a number of destinations in Europe for a business trip using the passport of his wife that he had mistakenly picked up. None of the officials at the various different passport control points he passed through noticed the error. So it is clear that ID documents only provide security if the people who are supposed to check them actually do their job properly.
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