Document Fraud: Will Your Identity Be Secure in the Twenty-first Century?
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Document Fraud: Will Your Identity Be Secure in the Twenty-first Century? Simon Baechler 1,2,3,4 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Document fraud has been qualified by Europol as one of the major cross-cutting engines of organised crime. The use of fraudulent identity and travel documents has been linked to a broad spectrum of criminal activities, ranging from financial scams and trafficking in human beings to terrorism and beyond. Criminals have used counterfeit and forged documents since the emergence of official identity and travel documents in the Late Middle Ages. Since then, criminals have become more creative, adapting and evolving in response to technological advancements in document security. In this regard, despite the introduction of biometric documents, the promise of tamper-proof official documents remains a holy grail, and document fraud still has a future ahead in the twenty-first century. Based on scientific and law enforcement data and sources, this article presents the imaginative modus operandi used by defrauders to counterfeit and forge documents. Considering the point of view of criminologists, forensic scientists, law enforcement and forgers, this article provides insights and opinions about current trends and challenges as well as future prospects. Key issues are raised, such as the involvement of organised crime and criminal networks, as well as the use of the Internet to trade fraudulent identity and travel documents. Current and future methods to investigate and study document fraud are also outlined, and finally four main challenges are presented to provide guidance for future policy implications. Keywords Documents . Identity . Fraud . Modus operandi . Organised crime . Intelligence . Counterfeiting . Forgery
Contribution to the special issue ‘Fraud in the 21st Century’
* Simon Baechler [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
S. Baechler
Introduction Dating back to the Late Middle Ages, identity and travel documents1 are one of the most convenient means to answer the question ‘Who are you?’ and the subsequent interrogation ‘What are your rights and duties?’ (About and Denis 2010; Fahrmeir 2001; Groebner 2007; Lloyd 2003; Piazza 2004; Santschi 2004). Such documents may be a written, visual or increasingly electronic source of information, and while their medium might differ, they are all ostensibly means for introducing and building confidence amongst unfamiliar parties. Documents such as passports, driving licences and identity cards, and the confidence in someone’s identity that they bring are viewed as critical aspects of social, political and economic life (UNODC 2010b). They play a pivotal role in matters of mobility, migration, employment, access to services as well as governance. ID verification is recognised as a fundamental and systematic task of policing and justice (Ribaux et al. 2013), and is also specifically required in sectors like air transport or banking under policies such as ‘Know Your Customer’ and due dili
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