Counterfeit and Fake ID Factories Under the Spotlight

Recently the London Evening Standard reported that the Metropolitan Police within the last 18 months had closed in excess of 20 fake ID factories.

The initial report and operation focussed upon fake ID factories being illegally operated by organised criminals to produce counterfeit driving licences, household bills, and passports. The fake Identity documents once produced were used in a variety of illegal ways to facilitate immigration, false work visas, banking and benefit fraud, and identity theft.

Operation Maxim was established by the Metropolitan Police to combat organised illegal immigration in London, an element of this operation was the Genesius project, a joint venture project with supply partners within the printing industry, its aim is to regulate the availability of printing equipment which could be used for the production of counterfeit documents and fake identification. Affiliation to the scheme for resellers is entirely voluntary, and companies are encouraged to join and alert the Police authorities to suspicious transactions and customers. This could be the first step towards the industry tackling fake id head on and becoming fully regulated, a move widely supported by the police.

The operation creates a linked working relationship between the different agencies directly related to illegal immigration crime such as people trafficking, fake id fraud and exploitation. These include the immigration, passport and crown prosecution services. Recent successes of the project include the withdrawal of a printer from the PC World stock line, capable of printing fake ID cards, the move was welcomed as an end of line high street retailer gives wider unrestricted access to specialised printing equipment, therefore by eliminating this supply to inexperienced fake id fraudsters, the projects resources can be focussed on the smaller printing supply industry, that have previously supplied the fake identification factories.

Significant hauls of fake documentation have included the arrest of 22 men of predominantly Bulgarian, and Korean origin, the arrests were a result of an intelligence led investigation whereby nearly 2000 fake passports, and enough material to produce a further 4000 fake identification documents were recovered. The haul also included printing equipment, computers, and immigration stamps.

Detectives leading the investigation focussed on fake id recovery, and summarised the recent success as “significant in light of preventing people trafficking and illegal smuggling, this is our largest seizure of fake id documents, with an estimated value of one million pounds, this will disrupt the criminal networks, and send a message to those involved that we are active in pursuing fake id factories and will prosecute those involved.