Faking It
The Jakarta Post - WEEKENDER | Sat, 05/23/2009 2:12 PM |
For Frank Abegnale, Jr. – one of the world’s most famous counterfeiters – forgery was an act of artistic pursuit: The more people he fooled, the more he sought to hone his craft. For others, forgery makes for a lucrative business venture, generating a total of about US$500 million per year. Nearly any type of document is forgeable, with banknotes, checks and school diplomas among the most frequently falsified. Maggie Tiojakin reports.
“Alisa” is a security manager at a local bank whose job entails going through a pile of bad checks issued within the month and tracing them back to the “printers” – a loose term she casually flaunts to describe suspected counterfeiters. On any given day, Alisa affirms, the bank comes across half a dozen bad checks, most of which were submitted by receivers who question their authenticity. Sometimes it’s the shaky signature that gives them away, other times it’s the odd serial numbers. Alisa says it takes specific tools to produce the right color tones and exact matches of bank seals, but it doesn’t take a genius to operate them.
Early last year, Alisa had a case where a young man came into the bank and insisted on cashing a check worth more than US$10,000. He said he had received the check from a friend who owed him money. One of the bank clerks, suspecting the check was bogus, brought it to Alisa’s attention. Seconds later, after a drop of acidic liquid here and a ray of ultraviolet there, Alisa was staring at dubious ink blots smeared all over the print. The young man left in a hurry before anyone had a chance to interrogate him.
“There are two kinds of counterfeiters,” says Alisa. “One group does it for the money, while the other group does it for the pleasure of deceiving other people. The first group is working the scams out of necessity, and the second one out of malicious intent.”
Even so, bank checks are not the only documents counterfeiters have the tendency to forge: In her eight years’ experience working as a security manager, Alisa has had run-ins with fraudulent bank slips, balance books, ID cards and powers-of-attorney – all of which are easily reproduced with the aid of digital imaging software. Because of this, Alisa adds, banking systems are adopting a new set of countermeasures whereby account holders are encouraged to deal directly with their banks, therefore minimizing the involvement of a third party.
“We set up phone, Internet, even SMS banking,” says Alisa. “It’s convenient, easy and direct.”
Nevertheless, a direct transaction doesn’t automatically eliminate all the risks attached to forgery: Some actually thrive upon direct transaction. Take a regular job interview, for example. The perfect applicant may tell you everything you want to hear, from their happy childhood to their hard-earned As to their summa cum laudes in their field of choice. So you hire them – a decision largely based upon the interview – while unaware that the university they claimed to have gone to may not exist and their credentials may have been somewhat compromised.
“People can be very convincing,” says Nini Revina, a human resources manager at a multinational oil company based in Jakarta. “When you sit down with them, they’ll smooth talk their way into making you believe they’ve done all these great things which you know only the best and the brightest can do. And if they have the paperwork to prove it, you won’t think twice about hiring them.”
Recent global trends suggest fake diplomas inserted into job applications, with applicants boasting of unearned degrees awarded by bona fide institutions around the world – notably those in England and the United States – or even bogus universities created for the purpose of deceiving potential employers. By paying between $200 and $4,000, the canny applicant is able to concoct his or her own academic credentials, complete with spotless transcripts and memorable souvenirs, such as a class ring or a laminated student ID card. One may also choose from a long list of degrees, be it a Ph.D. in anthropology or a Master’s in yodeling.
Millions of online sites providing the above services are listed commercially as “novelty stores”, whose specialty involves designing fake diplomas and degrees according to the client’s specifications, as well as replicating diplomas that have the look and feel of the original items from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, or Yale; the creators apply a unique template for each order, including the various fonts, colors, watermarks, holographs, signatures and encryptions. Several of these “stores” even go the extra mile and establish toll-free numbers available for data verification, making it almost impossible for employers to know the truth.
“It’s an enticing idea,” says Nini. “With the job market being as competitive as it is now, who wouldn’t want to get a head start? Whether or not it’s done legally is a different matter. Unfortunately – for them – my job is to stop them from getting that kind of start.”
“Johannes”, 28, is a university graduate who holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. To earn money, he works as a freelance graphic artist, a profession that gives him neither financial security nor guarantee, much less satisfaction. He says he has been unable to land a “solid job” because he lacks the qualifications – the market now setting its bar so high he doesn’t know how to reach it without propping himself up with a postgraduate degree. Should he be given the option, Johannes says he’s not above forging his own records if it means he can work in his dream job.
“The [job] market has ridiculous expectations,” says Johannes. “When I was in school, the expectation was to graduate with a bachelor’s degree; when I got my bachelor’s, I was told I needed a master’s. Now, they’re looking for someone with a Ph.D. I think it’s a terrible thing to do – forging one’s own records – but there are times when I wish it were possible, doable.”
Who says it isn’t?
Jakarta is home to thousands of counterfeiters who act under the guise of home printing businesses, rundown shops perched along the city’s main streets that offer basic printing and photocopying services at an unusually cheap rate, sometimes going out of their way to provide other – more complex – services: text editing, writing and typing. (It is not unheard of for university students to use these services to finish a thesis or essay; indeed, they are often likely to be the ones providing the service.) It doesn’t stop there, though. Occasionally, these businesses receive high-value requests to duplicate official government dossiers, for purposes undisclosed to them. Such dossier may include tax forms, letters or title deeds.
Winarti, who works at a printing center in Kelapa Gading, claims she has had many customers come to the center looking to duplicate or falsify official documents – and, she is proud to say, she rejects them all. Today, she merely has to point to a printed announcement on every counter in the shop, which lists the different types of document the center is not allowed to scan, print or retouch, including ID cards, birth certificates and company profiles.
“Once, a woman came in here requesting we remove someone’s signature from an official letter,” says Winarti. “I told her it couldn’t be done, but she wouldn’t listen. She said the letter belonged to her family and no harm would be done if I helped her remove the signature. I realized later, after giving the letter a second look, that it was a will. Something about a house.”
Of course, not all counterfeit attempts are about somebody’s wealth. Several aim to falsify identities. Stolen passports are very valuable, because somewhere out there someone needs a new name, a new look, a new life – and home printing business are quick to turn these items around. For less than $100, one can obtain new identification and work legally in any country, virtually risk free.
According to local authorities, who have formed their own task force to crack down on illegal “printers”, it’s very important for people to actively watch each other’s back to avoid scams committed by con artists. A crime of this particular nature is classified as a misdemeanor, usually punishable by five to eight months in jail.
“We don’t take the issue of forgery lightly,” says an official who asks not to be identified.
“Any individual with the capability to deceive is ultimately considered a high-risk factor in our security system.”
In short: Read the fine print.
“Alisa” is a security manager at a local bank whose job entails going through a pile of bad checks issued within the month and tracing them back to the “printers” – a loose term she casually flaunts to describe suspected counterfeiters. On any given day, Alisa affirms, the bank comes across half a dozen bad checks, most of which were submitted by receivers who question their authenticity. Sometimes it’s the shaky signature that gives them away, other times it’s the odd serial numbers. Alisa says it takes specific tools to produce the right color tones and exact matches of bank seals, but it doesn’t take a genius to operate them.
Early last year, Alisa had a case where a young man came into the bank and insisted on cashing a check worth more than US$10,000. He said he had received the check from a friend who owed him money. One of the bank clerks, suspecting the check was bogus, brought it to Alisa’s attention. Seconds later, after a drop of acidic liquid here and a ray of ultraviolet there, Alisa was staring at dubious ink blots smeared all over the print. The young man left in a hurry before anyone had a chance to interrogate him.
“There are two kinds of counterfeiters,” says Alisa. “One group does it for the money, while the other group does it for the pleasure of deceiving other people. The first group is working the scams out of necessity, and the second one out of malicious intent.”
Even so, bank checks are not the only documents counterfeiters have the tendency to forge: In her eight years’ experience working as a security manager, Alisa has had run-ins with fraudulent bank slips, balance books, ID cards and powers-of-attorney – all of which are easily reproduced with the aid of digital imaging software. Because of this, Alisa adds, banking systems are adopting a new set of countermeasures whereby account holders are encouraged to deal directly with their banks, therefore minimizing the involvement of a third party.
“We set up phone, Internet, even SMS banking,” says Alisa. “It’s convenient, easy and direct.”
Nevertheless, a direct transaction doesn’t automatically eliminate all the risks attached to forgery: Some actually thrive upon direct transaction. Take a regular job interview, for example. The perfect applicant may tell you everything you want to hear, from their happy childhood to their hard-earned As to their summa cum laudes in their field of choice. So you hire them – a decision largely based upon the interview – while unaware that the university they claimed to have gone to may not exist and their credentials may have been somewhat compromised.
“People can be very convincing,” says Nini Revina, a human resources manager at a multinational oil company based in Jakarta. “When you sit down with them, they’ll smooth talk their way into making you believe they’ve done all these great things which you know only the best and the brightest can do. And if they have the paperwork to prove it, you won’t think twice about hiring them.”
Recent global trends suggest fake diplomas inserted into job applications, with applicants boasting of unearned degrees awarded by bona fide institutions around the world – notably those in England and the United States – or even bogus universities created for the purpose of deceiving potential employers. By paying between $200 and $4,000, the canny applicant is able to concoct his or her own academic credentials, complete with spotless transcripts and memorable souvenirs, such as a class ring or a laminated student ID card. One may also choose from a long list of degrees, be it a Ph.D. in anthropology or a Master’s in yodeling.
Millions of online sites providing the above services are listed commercially as “novelty stores”, whose specialty involves designing fake diplomas and degrees according to the client’s specifications, as well as replicating diplomas that have the look and feel of the original items from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, or Yale; the creators apply a unique template for each order, including the various fonts, colors, watermarks, holographs, signatures and encryptions. Several of these “stores” even go the extra mile and establish toll-free numbers available for data verification, making it almost impossible for employers to know the truth.
“It’s an enticing idea,” says Nini. “With the job market being as competitive as it is now, who wouldn’t want to get a head start? Whether or not it’s done legally is a different matter. Unfortunately – for them – my job is to stop them from getting that kind of start.”
“Johannes”, 28, is a university graduate who holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. To earn money, he works as a freelance graphic artist, a profession that gives him neither financial security nor guarantee, much less satisfaction. He says he has been unable to land a “solid job” because he lacks the qualifications – the market now setting its bar so high he doesn’t know how to reach it without propping himself up with a postgraduate degree. Should he be given the option, Johannes says he’s not above forging his own records if it means he can work in his dream job.
“The [job] market has ridiculous expectations,” says Johannes. “When I was in school, the expectation was to graduate with a bachelor’s degree; when I got my bachelor’s, I was told I needed a master’s. Now, they’re looking for someone with a Ph.D. I think it’s a terrible thing to do – forging one’s own records – but there are times when I wish it were possible, doable.”
Who says it isn’t?
Jakarta is home to thousands of counterfeiters who act under the guise of home printing businesses, rundown shops perched along the city’s main streets that offer basic printing and photocopying services at an unusually cheap rate, sometimes going out of their way to provide other – more complex – services: text editing, writing and typing. (It is not unheard of for university students to use these services to finish a thesis or essay; indeed, they are often likely to be the ones providing the service.) It doesn’t stop there, though. Occasionally, these businesses receive high-value requests to duplicate official government dossiers, for purposes undisclosed to them. Such dossier may include tax forms, letters or title deeds.
Winarti, who works at a printing center in Kelapa Gading, claims she has had many customers come to the center looking to duplicate or falsify official documents – and, she is proud to say, she rejects them all. Today, she merely has to point to a printed announcement on every counter in the shop, which lists the different types of document the center is not allowed to scan, print or retouch, including ID cards, birth certificates and company profiles.
“Once, a woman came in here requesting we remove someone’s signature from an official letter,” says Winarti. “I told her it couldn’t be done, but she wouldn’t listen. She said the letter belonged to her family and no harm would be done if I helped her remove the signature. I realized later, after giving the letter a second look, that it was a will. Something about a house.”
Of course, not all counterfeit attempts are about somebody’s wealth. Several aim to falsify identities. Stolen passports are very valuable, because somewhere out there someone needs a new name, a new look, a new life – and home printing business are quick to turn these items around. For less than $100, one can obtain new identification and work legally in any country, virtually risk free.
According to local authorities, who have formed their own task force to crack down on illegal “printers”, it’s very important for people to actively watch each other’s back to avoid scams committed by con artists. A crime of this particular nature is classified as a misdemeanor, usually punishable by five to eight months in jail.
“We don’t take the issue of forgery lightly,” says an official who asks not to be identified.
“Any individual with the capability to deceive is ultimately considered a high-risk factor in our security system.”
In short: Read the fine print.
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