Forgery :

Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or

material alteration of a legal instrument with the
specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself).

Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some

jurisdictions but such an offense is not related to forgery unless the
tampered legal instrument was actually used in the course of the crime to
defraud another person or entity.

Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries,

though they may later become forgeries through knowing and
willful misrepresentations.

Forging money or currency is more often called counterfeiting.

But consumer goods may also be counterfeits if they are not manufactured
or produced by the designated manufacturer or producer given on
the label or flagged by the trademark symbol. When the object forged is a
record or document it is often called a false document.

This usage of "forgery" does not derive from metalwork done at a

blacksmith's forge, but it has a parallel history. A sense of "to counterfeit" is
already in the Anglo-French verb forger, meaning "falsify".

A forgery is essentially concerned with a produced or altered object. Where

the prime concern of a forgery is less focused on the object itself – what it is
worth or what it "proves" – than on a tacit statement of criticism that is
revealed by the reactions the object provokes in others, then the larger
process is a hoax. In a hoax, a rumor or a genuine object planted in a
concocted situation, may substitute for a forged physical object.

The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including

through the use of objects obtained through forgery. Forgery is one of the
techniques of fraud, including identity theft.
Types of forgery

 Archaeological forgery
 Art forgery
 Black propaganda — false information and material that purports to be
from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing
side
 Counterfeiting
o Counterfeit money — types of counterfeit coin include the cliché
forgery, the fourrée and the slug
o Counterfeit consumer goods
o Counterfeit medication
o Counterfeit watches
o Unapproved aircraft parts
o Watered stock
 False documents
 Forgery as covert operation
 Identity document forgery
o Fake passport
 Literary forgery
o Fake memoirs
o Pseudopigraphy — the false attribution of a work, not always as an
act of forgery
 Musical forgery — music allegedly written by composers of past eras, but
actually composed later by someone else
 Philatelic forgery — fake stamps produced to defraud stamp collectors
 Signature forgery
Detection and prevention of forgery

Anti-counterfeiting agencies and organisations

 Applied DNA Sciences — an American company that develops DNA-based

technology to help identify counterfeit goods
 Authentics Foundation - an international non-governmental
organization that raises public awareness of counterfeits
 Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group — an international group of
central banks that investigates emerging threats to the security of
banknotes
 Counterfeit Coin Bulletin — a now-defunct publication of the American
Numismatic Association
 International Federation of Spirits Producers — the trade association for
the worldwide spirit industry's protection against counterfeit produce
 Philatelic Foundation — a major source of authentication of rare and
valuable postage stamps
 United States Secret Service — the agency responsible for the prevention
and investigation of counterfeit U.S. currency
 Verified-Accredited Wholesale Distributors — a program that offers an
accreditation to wholesale pharmaceutical distribution facilities

Tools and techniques

 Authentication - the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a single

piece of data claimed true by an entity.
 Counterfeit banknote detection pen — uses an iodine-based ink that
reacts with the starch found in counterfeit banknotes
 EURion constellation — a pattern of symbols incorporated into banknote
designs, which can be detected by imaging software
 Geometric lathe — a 19th-century lathe used for making ornamental
patterns on the plates used in printing bank notes and stamps
 Microprinting - very small text hidden on banknotes or cheques, that is
difficult to accurately reproduce
 Optical variable device — an iridescent image that cannot be photocopied
or scanned
 Optically variable ink — ink that appears to change colour depending on
the angle it is viewed from
 Philatelic expertisation — the process whereby an expert is asked to give
an opinion whether a philatelic item is genuine
 Questioned document examination — a forensic science discipline that
attempts to answer questions about disputed documents
 Security printing — the field of the printing industry that deals with the
printing of items such as banknotes and identity documents
 Security thread — a thin ribbon threaded through a banknote, that
appears as a solid line when held up to the light
 Taggant — a radio frequency microchip that can be tracked and
identified
 Watermark — a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as
various shades of lightness when viewed

Refer session plan for case.

Forgery is the process of creating, adapting, or imitating objects or

documents. The most common forgeries include money, works of art,
documents, diplomas, and identification. Forgeries often accompany other
fraud such as application, insurance, or check fraud, financial identity
takeover, and so forth. In a less traditional sense, forgeries do not have to be
physical but may also be electronic, such as fake personal pages on social
media Web sites or adaption of e-mail correspondence. Concerning
documents and identification, there are several types of forgery:
Blank documents are real documents, such as genuine passports
without personal data or stamped and signed memorandum letters
without content. The data are inserted by the forger to support
fraudulent activity. As for passports and identification, they are
usually obtained with the assistance of officials (police, ministry of
interior, embassy, etc.) or stolen. This group of forged documents is
difficult to detect.

Adjusted documents are documents that belonged to someone else

but the data or picture in the documents has been changed to fit the
carrier. These documents are often stolen from their real owners or
bought (the owner is selling documents and then declaring them as
missing). Documents that were deliberately damaged, such as those
that were washed in a washing machine, belong to this group.
Adjusting documents is the most common type of forgery.

Made documents are completely homemade to resemble real

documents. Made documents can be privately made and are often of
bad quality and easily detectable. However, documents can be made
professionally by criminal organizations that invest huge amounts of
money in sophisticated equipment. Also, certain states are known to
make fake foreign documents for agents abroad. These documents are
almost impossible to detect because they are of superb quality.

False documents—Several companies sell documents from countries

that have ceased to exist although their names continue to sound
familiar, such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, British Honduras, and
Burma. With the passport, a client also receives identification cards, a
country club membership card, a driving license, and so forth.