Passport Proven Directors continue to keep up to date with trends identified through our own work and the work of others. Over the Lockdown period we have ‘attended’ online industry events, continued to liaise with law enforcement and analysed our own data. All sources agree that the vast majority of fake documents encountered are British or European.
Some 60% of documents tend to be British. This includes passports, visas, BRPs, residence permits, national insurance and birth certificates. Of particular cause for concern is the BRP which has long been held as a very secure document. Sadly, we know there are many fakes in circulation from poor quality ones which are used in the right to … scenarios; and high quality ones which fool all but the most expert of checkers – these latter ones would enable the statutory excuse.
With European documents, there is roughly a 50:50 split between fake passports and fake ID cards, and it is the usual types of document that a re encountered: French passport and ID; Italian passport; Greek passport; Spanish and Portuguese passports and ID.
Much has been made of Brexit, indicating that this will remove a large proportion of fraudulent documents. This may be true, but it will only achieve a move to a different type of document. We are already seeing a rise in fraudulently used British and Irish documents, and industry experts expect this to rise in the future.
We provide this information to assist you in focusing your attention when checking documents, and recommend that you check ALL documents thoroughly.
