Forgers earn millions from fake passports, work passes

New Straits Times

26-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Document forgery syndicates are believed to be earning millions of ringgit each year by producing fake passports and Temporary Employment Visit Passes (PLKS) for foreign job seekers in Malaysia.
One such syndicate uncovered by the Immigration Department was reportedly charging between RM100 and RM150 per passport and capable of producing up to 100 fake passports a day.
The syndicate was also found altering the biodata of undocumented foreigners to obtain approval from the Foreign Workers' Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema).
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban told Utusan Malaysia that certain syndicates were offering passports from specific countries to undocumented migrants using authentic passports with falsified biodata.
This was done to facilitate the approval process for Fomema health screenings.
Zakaria said these services were offered for around RM200 per case, including arrangements for the medical check-up at selected clinics.
"There are syndicates offering forged passports specifically for Fomema purposes, charging RM100 to RM150 each.
"These illegal activities are believed to produce 50 to 100 passports per day." he said.
The syndicates were mainly forging passports from foreign worker source countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Indonesia.
Zakaria said the syndicates typically used genuine passports belonging to other individuals, and altered the biodata and internal pages at a cost of RM1,000 to RM1,500 per passport.
He said some syndicates would use the forged passport details to apply for Fomema approval, which involved an additional cost of RM600 to RM1,000 per document.
"Most of these operations are based in business premises and condominiums to avoid detection and are equipped with printers to produce fake documents," he said.
However, the number of passport forgery syndicates has decreased following Malaysia's shift towards digitalisation, including the adoption of e-passports and mobile passport readers.
"The Immigration Department is now equipped with tools that help us determine whether a document is fake or genuine, so those with forged documents cannot escape scrutiny.
"This is evident as only 27 arrests related to forged passes were made up to April this year, compared to 221 last year, while 57 arrests were recorded for fake passports in 2024."