Forgery is a process in which an object is created by adapting or imitating the real object. The created object can be produced by making some alterations to the real one or by making an exact copy of the original. This crime is mostly common in the art industry, where artwork can be forged.
Online Businesses are also facing electronic forgeries such as fake social media pages and websites and identification theft. Banks, financial institutions, and insurance agencies are the other industries more vulnerable to this type of fraud. Document verification has always been a challenge to the organizations. This type of fraud may cause large financial and reputational damage to the organizations. According to the Statista Research Department, the Flemish region of Belgium saw an increase of about 87.84% in the number of cybercrimes in the last decade from 2009 to 2022.
Document Forgery: A Quick Review
Document forgery has been a significant problem for the organizations for centuries. Back from its origin, document forgery detection started from the English speakers’ courts. Today, all types of organizations are facing forgery in many forms and require a strong system for document forgery detection. The most common types of forgery are as follows:
- Art forgery
- Signature forgery
- Document forgery
Art forgery is associated with copying the original artwork. Signature forgery happens when someone’s signature is copied by another person on checks, wills or other legal documents. Document forgery is a type of forgery where original documents are altered or modified or fraudsters create fake or false documents.
Common Types of Documents That Can Be Forged or Questioned Documents
All kinds of documents that can be potentially forged or falsified fall in the category of the questioned documents. The common examples of these documents include:
- Contracts and deeds
- Checks
- Wills
- Identification cards
- Government documents
- Legal documents
- Educational documents
- Employment documents
- Loan documents
- Insurance documents
Document Forensic Analysis
Document Forensic Analysis is a complete process in which any kind of questioned documents are analyzed to establish their origin and to find any kind of alteration if present . This is a scientific method that is used for document forgery detection. There are three main steps of examination for the analysis of documents, which are as follows:
- Handwriting is examined for the verification of identity
- Signatures are examined if they are genuine or forged
- Finding out the origin and background of the document.
Traditionally, document forensic analysis is carried out by a trained forensic document examiner. He is a forensic scientist and is an expert in this field. The examination is done in the forensic laboratory, and the latest techniques are used for forgery verification, like handwriting analysis, photography, and infrared image devices. Liquid chromatography and analysis of the documents created by different fax machines, printers and typewriters are also done in the forensic laboratory.
How The Businesses Can Protect Themselves From Document Forgery
During the last years of digitalization, financial institutes, and businesses have moved towards online transactions. These remote services need to be very safe and secure for both businesses and customers. Document falsification, identity theft, and other frauds are very frequent in the digital world, and common methods of verification are not enough to deal with them. A system is required to carry out the complete process of document forensic validation. Once identity document forgery verification is done through forensic techniques, there remains no doubt about their authenticity.
That’s why all online businesses can protect themselves from these criminal activities by implementing a digital solution to carry out document forgery analysis. Latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence(AI), machine learning(ML), and optical character recognition(OCR) make these solutions vital for document forgery detection. AI algorithms verify the identities, whereas OCR technology is used to authenticate the originality of the document.
Regulatory Compliance Assurance
Compliance to know your customer(KYC), anti-money laundering(AML), and countering terrorism funding (CTF) regulations is essential for banks, financial institutes, and insurance companies. Along with the other identification verification checks, document forgery verification helps organizations to follow compliance regulations. It fosters the document fraud detection process by authenticating the documents’ origin, hence mitigating the risk of fraud. All this ensures regulatory compliance for the company.
Summing Up
Document forgery has always been a challenge for the world since its evolution. Every industry is facing some kind of forgery and is at risk of identity theft or any other fraud. Organizations need a robust solution to carry out forensic examination of the documents online and validate their authenticity.
With the use of technologies like AI algorithms and OCR, a thorough document forensic analysis secures businesses from financial and reputational loss. It also ensures regulatory compliance and verifies the identities of the scientific rules, eliminating the chances of forgery to a minimum extent.
