Document fraud syndicates make millions a year, says immigration DG
Immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban said document fraud syndicates are becoming fewer in number due to the move by many countries towards digital systems. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA : Document fraud syndicates rake in millions of ringgit a year from selling fake passports and temporary work visit passes, according to immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban.
He was reported as saying by Utusan Malaysia that his department had found that such syndicates charge from RM100 to RM150 per passport, and produce around 100 passports a day.
Zakaria said these syndicates offer passports from certain countries to foreigners without travel documents, creating new sets of biodata for potential clients to apply for health check-ups with the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency 0r Fomema.
He said they charge about RM200 for this service and to arrange for appointments with certain clinics.
'These syndicates tend to falsify passports from countries listed as providers of foreign labour such as Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia,' he said.
Zakaria said these syndicates also charge RM1,000 to RM1,500 to amend the details of legitimate passports.
'Most of these syndicates operate from (legitimate) business premises and condominium units to hide from the immigration department,' he said.
However, he said such syndicates are becoming fewer in number due to the move by many countries, including Malaysia, towards digital systems with e-passes and mobile passport readers that can detect document fraud.
'The department now has equipment that enables us to check for fakes. As of April this year, we made 27 arrests related to fake pass syndicates, compared with 221 the previous year,' he said.
Zakaria said his department is also looking into procuring more powerful equipment to strengthen its enforcement capabilities.
'The use of mobile passport readers has been a great help to our officials in operations,' he said.
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