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Document Fraud: Will Your Identity Be Secure in the Twenty-first Century?

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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.

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Notes

  1. The dividing line between identity documents and travel documents becomes increasingly blurred and therefore pointless in our humble opinion. For instance, a passport is at the same time an identity document and a travel document. Identity cards or residence permits enable one to travel throughout the Schengen Area in Europe. This article covers all these sorts of documents altogether.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Simon Baechler

  2. Department of Forensic Science and Crime Intelligence, Neuchâtel State Police, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Simon Baechler

  3. Forensic Research Group, University of Québec in Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada

    Simon Baechler

  4. International Centre for Comparative Criminology, University of Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Simon Baechler

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Baechler, S. Document Fraud: Will Your Identity Be Secure in the Twenty-first Century?. Eur J Crim Policy Res 26, 379–398 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-020-09441-8

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