Click below to read a summary of the fraud detection project ideas for Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards; or to go back to project ideas click here [2].
Bronze award
Investigate Archimedes’ method for testing of metals
When Archimedes stepped into a full bath it overflowed. This gave him a clue to solving a king-sized problem: how to determine whether or not the new royal crown was pure gold. “Eureka!” he cried, meaning “I‟ve found it!” Read about Archimedes to find out how the overflowing bath helped him to determine the density of the crown, and thus solve the problem.In this project you will use a modern version of Archimedes‟ method to investigate the composition of copper, silver and gold items.
CREST Silver
Investigate the uses of chromatography in fraud detection
Chromatography literally means „colour writing‟. The results of an analysis are „written‟ as a series of coloured spots. The positions of the spots help the analyst to decide what the original sample contained. If the results aren‟t what they should be, something is wrong – maybe a fraud. One advantage of chromatography is that it needs only tiny samples for testing. In this project you will use chromatography to detect forged cheques and other documents and various types of counterfeit goods.
CREST Gold
Investigate the adulteration of food and drink
Periodically a new food scam hits the headlines. These stories come to light because chemical analysis detects the problem. Unfortunately the media often misunderstand the science and spread scare stories that are far from the truth. In this project you will concentrate on the scientific detection aspects.