Many of this year's successful GCSE and A-levels candidates will receive new forgery-proof exam certificates to prevent counterfeiting or alteration.

Ten anti-fraud devices will be incorporated into the 1.5 million certificates due to be issued by exam board Edexcel this summer.

This is part of a wider strategy to introduce the latest technology into the examination system David Sands Edexcel

These include a hologram, an ultra-violet image invisible to the human eye, and heat-sensitive ink which disappears if photocopied or scanned.

Edexcel says the print and design features mean the certificates cannot be accurately reproduced by scanners, printers or photocopiers.

The exam board had the new-style certificates produced by a specialist secure printer that produces chequebooks for banks and tickets for Premiership football matches.

The head of Edexcel's certification department, David Sands, said: "We don't have a big problem with fraud but we have upgraded our certificate to keep ahead of the game.

Latest technology

"This is part of a wider strategy to introduce the latest technology into the examination system.

"As technology gets more sophisticated we are taking every possible step to maintain the integrity of our qualifications so that students, admissions tutors and employers can continue to have total confidence in the system."

Edexcel offers academic and vocational qualifications at more than 6,000 schools, colleges and accredited training centres.