Post 9/11: Fake Passports Still Easy to Obtain

[Paul Ferguson <fergdawgster () gmail com>]

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Obviously child's play.

Via The Boston Globe (AP).

[snip]

Using phony documents and the identities of a dead man and a 5-year-old
boy, a government investigator obtained U.S. passports in a test of
post-9/11 security. Despite efforts to boost passport security since the
2001 terror attacks, the investigator fooled passport and postal service
employees four out of four times, according to a new report made public
Friday.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative
arm, details the ruses:

* One investigator used the Social Security number of a man who died in
1965, a fake New York birth certificate and a fake Florida driver's
license. He received a passport four days later.
* A second attempt had the investigator using a 5-year-old boy's
information but identifying himself as 53 years old on the passport
application. He received that passport seven days later.
* In another test, an investigator used fake documents to get a genuine
Washington, D.C., identification card, which he then used to apply for a
passport. He received it the same day.
* A fourth investigator used a fake New York birth certificate and a fake
West Virginia driver's license and got the passport eight days later.


Criminals and terrorists place a high value on illegally obtained travel
documents, U.S. intelligence officials have said. Currently, poorly faked
passports are sold on the black market for $300, while top-notch fakes go
for around $5,000, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
investigations.

[snip]

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/14/investigat
or_uses_phony_documents_to_get_passports/

- - ferg

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-- 
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawgster(at)gmail.com
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
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