<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=560><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2>More passport cheats nabbed <!-- TITLE : end--><!--
Real travel documents used to fake identity as forgery becomes harder. -ST --></TD></TR><TR>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=content_subtitle align=left>Mon, Aug 24, 2009
The Straits Times </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right>
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</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right><FORM method=post name=emailToFriendForm action=emailToFriend.jsp><INPUT value=/vgn-ext-templating/asiaone/emailToFriend.jsp?vgnextoid=4cceaae301943210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=87f5adbd2b722110VgnVCM100000bd0a0a0aRCRD type=hidden name=emailToFriendPageURL> <INPUT value=http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20090824-162820.html type=hidden name=emailToFriendStoryLink>
</FORM><SCRIPT> function openEmailA1AdminWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } </SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->By Teh Joo Lin
AS TRAVEL documents get harder to fake, a different type of passport fraud has surfaced in Singapore.
It involves foreigners who come to work here without legal papers and then want to get out of the country without the long arm of the law catching up with them.
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/static/ads/scripts/adsimu.js"></SCRIPT><!-- AdSpace 300X250 A1-STI IMU --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 type=text/javascript src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tasiaonetravel&sec=a1_travel&pagepos=1&size=300X250"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- /AdSpace --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The racket involves a would-be illegal immigrant, who enters the country on his own passport, and then quickly sells it to someone else who can use it to leave the country.
<HR>Technology, training keep fraudsters out
IN THE past four years, more than 12,000 personae non gratae have failed to get into Singapore under new identities.
Their covers were blown because of a biometric database that stores the fingerprints, facial images and other particulars of foreigners who have been banned from entering the country.
The database, set up in June 2005, is one tool used by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to pick out passport fraudsters.
<HR>How illegal travellers try to cheat system
PASSPORTS are hard to fake these days, which may be why other types of immigration fraud are surfacing.
The Singapore biometric passport itself is packed with more than 20 security features. Common ones are watermarks, images that show up under ultraviolet light, and microtext - words printed in a font so tiny that they appear as a straight line to the naked eye.
Mr Kum Leong Kay, head of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's Identity Authentication & Document Analysis Branch, added: 'It is not cost-effective (for syndicates) to manufacture whole passports because once one of them is detected, similar ones will also be detected.'
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Real travel documents used to fake identity as forgery becomes harder. -ST --></TD></TR><TR>
The Straits Times </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right>
</TD><TD height=15>
</FORM><SCRIPT> function openEmailA1AdminWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } </SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->By Teh Joo LinAS TRAVEL documents get harder to fake, a different type of passport fraud has surfaced in Singapore.
It involves foreigners who come to work here without legal papers and then want to get out of the country without the long arm of the law catching up with them.
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/static/ads/scripts/adsimu.js"></SCRIPT><!-- AdSpace 300X250 A1-STI IMU --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 type=text/javascript src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tasiaonetravel&sec=a1_travel&pagepos=1&size=300X250"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- /AdSpace --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The racket involves a would-be illegal immigrant, who enters the country on his own passport, and then quickly sells it to someone else who can use it to leave the country.
<HR>Technology, training keep fraudsters out
IN THE past four years, more than 12,000 personae non gratae have failed to get into Singapore under new identities.
Their covers were blown because of a biometric database that stores the fingerprints, facial images and other particulars of foreigners who have been banned from entering the country.
The database, set up in June 2005, is one tool used by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to pick out passport fraudsters.
<HR>How illegal travellers try to cheat system
PASSPORTS are hard to fake these days, which may be why other types of immigration fraud are surfacing.
The Singapore biometric passport itself is packed with more than 20 security features. Common ones are watermarks, images that show up under ultraviolet light, and microtext - words printed in a font so tiny that they appear as a straight line to the naked eye.
Mr Kum Leong Kay, head of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's Identity Authentication & Document Analysis Branch, added: 'It is not cost-effective (for syndicates) to manufacture whole passports because once one of them is detected, similar ones will also be detected.'
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