Fraud and Forgery: International Crime of Forgery of Documents

Author: (French) Pierre Delval (Delval, P.) (Translated by Shan Mingwei)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: In tampering, there are three types of additions: overlay, insertion, and transfer. Overlay is a means of partially or fully covering a portion of the original document. It can be used to overlay simple letters, words, or sentences. Insertion refers to non-coverage additions in blank spaces of the document, such as margins, edges, or the bottom of the page. Transfer refers to altering documents by crossing letters, words, or even entire sentences, thereby creating counterfeit documents. Therefore, transfer requires copying or shifting techniques. If twenty years ago, fraudsters used ballpoint pens for such fraud, now they use image processing and scanning devices to reproduce black-and-white or color images for similar activities. The comprehensive use of these three methods can achieve particularly effective addition effects. The combination of two methods is the inevitable result of deletion followed by addition, making substitution the most common form of tampering. Fraudsters employ the techniques described above. It is worthwhile to devote some attention to the substitution technique known as "image processing." Over the years, microcomputers have been marketed in the "mass" market with graphic packages fully adapted to image analysis and processing tools. Thanks to scanner and laser or inkjet printer technology, everyone today can obtain the corresponding electronic tools to achieve technical feats and alter sacred information data. As a result, it is possible to scan a check and modify its variable information through image processing without damaging the basic material and data, as well as to tamper with any document through high-tech color copying techniques. In practice, tampering with documents using these advanced technologies is as easy as playing "children's games." Clearly, in addition to these traditional tampering techniques, all tampering techniques targeting special documents can be added, such as replacing the photos on security or legal documents. Don't forget that documents with plastic substrates as carriers require other methods for deletion, addition, or substitution, such as uninstalling and reinstalling information on stolen credit cards, decoding and encoding on magnetic tracks, alternating printing and re-printing relevant information on polyvinyl chloride cards, and so on. There are many examples of tampering. Indeed, these examples can be divided into very broad categories based on the type of document and the level of protection it offers. Clearly, the most common examples are tampering with identity documents and credit payment documents, such as checks or credit cards. The principle of tampering remains consistent: erasing variable information and replacing it with new information that benefits the fraudster, replacing photos, changing dates, amounts, and names, and so on. In short, carefully altering the content of documents without attracting the attention of the inspector. In this case, the quality of tampering depends on the amount of compensation the future document owner is willing to pay the fraudster—the higher the compensation, the more realistic the tampered document will be compared to the natural one! Tampered documents are increasingly used in broader criminal activities than illegal immigration or "small-week" checks. For example, fraud involving counterfeit international transfer orders requires the use of tampered identity documents, and the information on the tampered documents must be completely consistent with the information on the forged bank documents. These crimes involve intercepting specific transfer information of a company at a specific moment in the banking transaction process and mailing transfer orders to criminal conspirators responsible for collecting funds under the company's name. This fraud, based on the use of tampered documents, operates in three different stages:
- First, intercepting mail and forms to obtain account numbers, passwords, signatures, and other information, as well as the approximate amount of funds circulating in the account.
- Second, using manual skills to prepare forgeries with a commercial pretext (e.g., forged invoices, letterheads, statements). The forger must act according to the instructions of the coordinator responsible for understanding the habits of the victimized client.
- Last, coordinated teams in different countries use forged or tampered identity documents to open bank accounts and secure the receipt of fraudulent funds.
In September 1979, the International issued a notice numbered 69/79/E/BA/2/9. The notice considered this fraud highly advanced because fraudsters used forged original transfer orders for transfers. Once the transfer was confirmed, the relevant funds were divided and sent to various receiving accounts opened in different countries. According to statistics from the Central Office for Combating Financial Crimes in 1994, the estimated bank losses from 2,000 criminal cases annually in France between 1988 and 1993 amounted to 1 billion francs. According to statistics from the General Police Department, the estimated risk losses in 1993 alone were 200 million francs. According to information provided by the Third Judicial Representation Office of the General Police Department, a counterfeit transfer order worth 1.5 million francs intercepted in 1993 used tampered documents and contained signatures scanned with "technically and qualitatively remarkable methods." However, in tampering techniques on paper-based or paper-and-plastic-based documents, there is no excessive repetition of "original techniques," as the field of plastic cards is one where tampering techniques are constantly innovating. Several years ago, tampering with lost or stolen bank cards required decoding/reencoding or flattening/reimprinting. Decoding/reencoding refers to erasing the original encoded information on the card's magnetic track and inputting new information copied from another card. Therefore, this "asexual reproduction" process involves using stolen "mother cards" to simultaneously or in a very short time copy multiple "sister cards" for fraudulent activities. These fraudulent activities can take place in many stores or ATMs. After stealing the "mother card," it must be used quickly under the condition of knowing the password to commit fraud on ATMs! Flattening/reimprinting refers to flattening the original embossed text and numbers, re-embossing them in the area to be tampered with, and embedding new information obtained from invoices or stolen bank statements beforehand. This tampering technique is specifically used in stores with "ironing-board" card readers for fraudulent transactions. There are many examples of tampering in this field. "In September 1992, two fraudsters were arrested in Paris. They defrauded tens of thousands of francs within just a few months. They used microcomputers and modified 'password readers' to decode and reencode the magnetic tracks of stolen bank cards beforehand." The fraudsters set up a small tampering workshop for bank cards in their apartment on Rue Lepine, equipped with electronic equipment bought from stores and special equipment stolen from an encoding machine supplier. The startup process is simple. The villains first stole some cards and collected some invoices from dubious merchants. Next, they began the more delicate work. Using the "password reader," they read the stolen cards; then they erased the magnetic track. After that, they added a new password to the same magnetic track. This new password was the number from the collected invoices. The tampered cards could then be used to "pay" in stores. Compared to the traditional flattening technique, which was only performed on stolen cards, the advantage of this fraud was that the funds were drawn from the bank accounts of the invoice issuers. Obviously, these issuers had no reason to reject their own cards. This fraud was so successful that the two fraudsters sold the tampered cards to other lawbreakers at a high price of 2,000 francs per card. These bank cards were widely targeted in the late 1980s. Due to the fraud rate of 0.269% in 1987, France had to invest heavily in microprocessor technology to prevent these tampering crimes and gradually reduce fraud. By 1996, the rate had dropped to 0.023%.