2.7 Documents Forgery

2.7

Documents Forgery

There has been a steady increase in fraudulent identity and travel documents detected in Thailand in recent years. Thai offenders frequently manufacture fake passports, and there is a burgeoning market for authentic stolen passports, which are then altered with new biodata and visa information.

Between 2012 and 2015, 622 forged passports were seized at Thailand’s main international airport, as illustrated in the Immigration Department’s official records reported below. Seizures were classified by the Immigration Department in eight categories:

1. Fake passports

2. Substitution of biodata information In this situation, the passport was real, but the biodata page was altered. Forgers substituted the photo and used chemicals to erase the original biodata information, replacing it with new information.

3. Fake visa page The passport was authentic, but the visa pages were either removed or edited.

4. Page substitution (stamps) Some pages of a real passport were substituted to conceal stamps or records that would reveal a violation of immigration laws.

5. Partial biodata alteration Some biodata information was altered, usually the date of birth or the expiration date.

6. Photo substitution The original photo was replaced in a real passport.

7. Fake stamp A real passport would be altered with a fake stamp to conceal the deadline of the visa period, permitting the person to overstay.

The graphic below illustrates the forged passports detected at Thailand’s main international airport between 2012 and 2015.

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The most common fake and stolen passports were for European Union nationalities, especially Italian, German, Greek, French, Spanish and Bulgarian. These countries are often targeted for irregular entry because of weaknesses in their entry processes. Passengers using fake or altered passports may conceal their real nationality, so it is hard to determine their country of origin. However, investigations conducted by airport authorities revealed that people who used fake passports were often Indian, Iranian, Iraqi and Afghan.209

Authentic but altered passports (in particular in the biodata page) have become the most common form of document forgery encountered in Thailand, although the production of entirely forged documents remains significant. The alteration of biodata pages commonly occurred in two circumstances. First, there were cases where the passenger used his or her real passport but changed the date of birth to conceal the real age of girls under 18. Second, impostors used stolen passports with edited visa photographs and biographical information. Forgery and trafficking in lost and stolen passports is a very lucrative market. Every year, around 60,000 passports are reported lost or stolen in Thailand and they typically sell for between 1,500 and 3,000 USD per unit, depending on their condition, nationality and the number of years that are left.210 For example, the British Embassy has reported that around 2,000 British passports are lost or stolen in Thailand yearly. Organized crime procures these genuine passports and efficiently alters and distributes them. According to law enforcement officers, this type of forgery is the hardest to detect since every other component of the passport is authentic. Thai Immigration does not use fingerprints technology to verify the identity of foreign passports, which weakens the country’s ability to detect forged passports.

209 Nation Thailand. Six facts about fake passport. Retrieved from https://www.nationthailand.com/opinion/30228944 210 Henley, J. (2014, March 10). How Thailand’s trade in fake passports fuels crime gangs around the world. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/thailand-trade-fake-passports-crime-gangs-world

How Fraudulent Documents Facilitate TOC

The interviewees highlighted the following two key roles regarding how fraudulent documents facilitate TOC.

First, the forged documents assist offenders (especially those who are on ‘blacklists’ or watch lists) in moving across borders by concealing their real identity. A fake passport is not only a tool for travelling undetected, but also a facilitator for logistics such as renting accommodations, checking in at a hotel or buying a SIM card. It also eases money laundering, by allowing offenders to open bank accounts and make financial transactions under a false identity. In addition to transnational offenders, international terrorists also rely on fake passports to travel from one country to another.

Second, the fraudulent documents are used to facilitate the transfer of victims, since document forgery greatly facilitates trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling in Thailand. Faked or altered passports are used to hide the real age of smuggled or trafficked victims, especially girls under 18. Some victims are given a fraudulent passport because obtaining a real one is too expensive and time-consuming for those who live in remote areas far from administrative centres. Underage Laotian211 girls and Chinese212 victims are frequently trafficked with fraudulent documents.

When considering who produces and distributes fake and altered passports, interviewees said that there are at least twenty organized criminal groups engaged in ID fraud and operating in the capital and surrounding provinces. Bangkok’s Khaosan and Sukhumvit areas are hotspots for this business along with other popular tourist destinations such as Pattaya and Phuket. Pakistani, Indian, Iranian and other Central Asian and Middle Eastern criminal organizations based in Thailand also participate in the production and dissemination of passports.

These criminal enterprises are transnational in nature. For example, in 2010 the DSI and the Spanish police uncovered a passport fraud network involving hundreds of people in many European and Asian countries. The network had operated for over ten years with a small forgery factory in Bangkok and transnational distribution benefiting firearms dealers, human traffickers and terrorists. The Barcelona-based cell of this international gang would steal tourists’ passports and send them to their Pakistani associate in Bangkok, who completed forgery and delivery.213 Law enforcement officers seized thousands of stolen passports and counterfeited biodata pages in an apartment in Bangkok.214

211 INTERPOL. (2015). Thailand Country Report 2015. INTERPOL Thailand, Bangkok, 18. Retrieved from http://www.INTERPOLbangkok. go.th/site/documents/events/Thailand_Country_Report%20_15th_SOMTC.pdf 212 Tanyapongpruch, S. (2002). Transnational Organized Crime in Thailand. UNAFEI Resource Material Series. Tokyo, 59, 603. Retrieved from http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No59/No59_40PA_Tanyapongpruch.pdf 213 In September 2009, an Iranian-born British citizen was arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport while carrying a bag of 103 stolen European, Canadian and Israeli passports. 214 Henley, J. (2014, March 10). How Thailand’s trade in fake passports fuels crime gangs around the world. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/thailand-trade-fake-passports-crime-gangs-world

People who turn to local agents for help in procuring travel documents typically have no idea that their passport is not authentic. For example, Thai border agents who work in a province near Myanmar discovered hundreds of fake passports which were held by Myanmar victims of migrant smugglers. These victims were charged between 8,000 and 17,000 Thai Baht (between ca. 230 and 480 USD) as a document and transportation fee for transport into Thailand. Because the migrants came from some remote villages, it was not easy to obtain a passport due to the expense and the complicated process. As a result, the victims resorted to a local counterfeiter acting as an official, and most believed that they had legitimate passports.

When authorities targeted persons travelling with a fake passport, the victims were largely unaware that they had committed a crime, and their arrests did not decrease the number of fake documents in circulation. Thai law enforcement has shifted to a prevention and educational approach, treating fake passport users as victims rather than offenders, and offering them assistance. Authorities found that disseminating brochures and flyers about regular migration channels within vulnerable communities actually resulted in a decrease in the use of fake passports at their duty station.