Abstract: Techniques for product authentication are disclosed which employ both identification tags affixed to products and a central server to validate scanned tag codes. To verify authenticity of a product, a user may peel off a cover label from the identification tag to reveal a scannable or readable code/symbol, use a device to scan or read the code/symbol, and then transmit it to the central server for authentication. The central server determines, based on database records, whether the code/symbol is genuine and never scanned by another device before. If so, the product is deemed authentic, and a corresponding token is created and stored based on the unique combination of the code/symbol and an identifier of the device used to scan/submit the code/symbol. Any subsequent authentication request originating from a different device to the central server with the same code/symbol may receive a negative response about the authenticity of the underlying product.