Forged passports can be used in all sorts of crimes. It can be used for smuggling purposes, for illegally entering different countries, for terrorism activities and many more. Passports are essentially required for personal identification and so they are used commonly by the citizens around the globe.
Trying to fake a passport or an identity is a serious crime and considered fraud. It is punishable by charging heavy fine as well as by jailing the culprit for several years. It all depends on the severity of the crime. The nature of punishment also depends on the state in which you have been arrested for the crime.
This punishment of this fraud is serious and it should not be taken lightly. The forgers can face up to 10 years of imprisonment. If passport forging has been done with the intent of national or internal terrorism then the culprit can be sentenced for being jailed up to 25 years.
A passport should be closely examined for verification of its validity. If something appears to be doubtful then the passport should be closely inspected. There are many differences that can help one detect the fake passports. If the visual inspection zone does not match with the machine readable zone, it’s a sign that the passport isn’t valid. The machine readable zone information is the text at the bottom of the passport. The information should contain the name, passport number and the date of expiration of the passport. Often the fake passport makers forget to change the machine readable zone information. All the information should match. You should carefully notice the spaces used to make the passport. The fake passport makers are not too careful about the spacing and so they might have more spacing than the authentic ones. The surface of the passport should be examined and notice any changes in thickness, traces of glue or any raised edges. The passport might have been glued back together or re-laminated after alteration. The identification of picture is also an important step for the deciding the authentication of a passport. The picture in the passport should be compared with the person who hands over the passport and then it should be checked if the picture and the person are the same. Then is the verification of date of birth. Check the appearance of the passport holder and guessing the age of the person, verify it with date of birth specified in the passport. If you still are not sure, then you can ask for any other document, be it a driver’s license for verification.
After all the different steps of inspection, if you are still doubtful, then you should ask for opinion from a supervisor or any coworker.
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