The Market for Fake Documentation

Dec. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- The Market for Fake Documentation

The market for fake documentation is booming, official looking documents which allow someone to live and work in a country are the most sought after, but there is also demand for fake university degrees, fake driving licences, fake student and also provenances for antique goods.

With the right contacts and more importantly, enough cash in your pocket almost every type of fake identification is available.  A passport from an EU country can be brought for as little as £500, the market although underground is busy, as illegal immigrants outside the EU attempt to obtain papers or identity cards which would allow them to find better legitimate employment within the EU - also alongside this, is the demand by criminals for similar documentation to be used in crime.

Value for Money Fakes?

It seldom happens, The quality of fake identities discovered varies massively, an EU passport generally has a floor price of £500, this will be supplied with your photo, any name and signature and any other credentials you want printed, the quality may not be very good as the finest copies can fetch up to £7k.

The most sought after fake identification is a stolen passport, there are many in circulation which remain undetected despite being registered on governmental databases, however a new wave of excellent mass produced fake passports from Russia and other eastern European countries have flooded the black market selling for £600.

A complete identity pack can also be provided, usually this means a fake birth certificate, passport and most importantly a fake national insurance card.  Many will feel the additional cost is well worth the small risks, many are able to settle into a normal life without detection.

The Fake Qualification Fallacy
British university qualifications can be purchased from various sites, with other faked documentation to verify student records also available for between £30 and £100.  The problem is more widespread than people realise, with 25% of CV lies being related to university degrees.

Fake Driving Licences
A serious problem for the police and other drivers is caused by unlicensed drivers using the roads, fake driving licenses are available with most or all security features for upwards of £400, there are also a number of novelty sites such as http://www.myfakeid.co.uk/ and http://www.phakeid.co.uk/ offering similar but novelty fake driving licence cards, which are much cheaper but do not contain the same level of security features or the paper counterparts that a good fake licence would be expected to come supplied with.

Fake documentation for Work
A vast range of fake documents related to the workplace have been created by counterfeiters, ranging from payslips to assist people with inflated mortgage or loan applications and fake sickness notes to enable people to stay off work.

Purchasing some fake documentation in itself is not illegal, however they become illegal if used to perpetrate crime such as deception or illegal immigration, the penalties can be severe with serious offences such as passport production carrying a 10 year custodial sentence with asset seizure being commonly used to recover proceeds of crime.