Fake passport checks being stepped up as people use Thailand to get into the West

[Oztruckie]

Got a new passport in Oz couple of years just before renewing my extension of stay at jomtien, lady at desk 8 asked for proof it was a new passport, said to her got it couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, but you need stamp or letter to confirm its not a fake, this was on a Friday the last day of my permission to stay, she say you need go to your embassy in bkk and have it certified, I said to immi lady I'll be past my permission to stay date she smiled and said no problem, so trip to bkk for a stamp, back to jomtien get my new permission to stay. 

[Tony Hanscomb]

Fake passport checks? Or Checks for fake passports?

[VBF]

1 hour ago, upu2 said:

Why would you want a fake passport anyway? I have at times had two passports because of work but a fake one you are just asking for trouble

Well I agree with that -  I'd be so damn nervous, I'd give myself away if i thought my documents were fake ?

Sometimes I'm glad to be a cowardy custard, keeping out of trouble! ?

[wgdanson]

45 minutes ago, jgarbo said:

With a biometric chip,  which is now becoming the standard. That type of passport costs, even the Thai crims can do it.

I don't know about Thai passports, but UK ones DO NOT have fingerprints or iris scans on the biometric chip.

[Zack61]

8 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Probably a lot less suspicious and more do-able than flying direct from Iran, N. Korea or Somalia... 

 

But that doesn't explain why the majority are from India...

Commonwealth country????

[ttrd]

9 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Why enter Thailand with a fake passport when you could enter on your genuine one, and then get a fake one done here so easily.

It may have something to do with the fact that the Passport doctor and his fake Passport ring were arrested back in 2016....

 

Master forger arrested in Thailand over fake passports for migrants to Europe

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/12149720/Master-forger-arrested-in-Thailand-over-fake-passports-for-migrants-to-Europe.html

 

…..and in January 2018

 

Pakistani man arrested over forging passports, visa stamps in Bangkok

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30336647

 

…...most likely based on this incident back in 2005 - if so - it took just 13 years of investigation:

 

Briton held over 452 fake passports

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/04/thailand

Edited September 21, 2018 by ttrd

[tso310]

Aah, Thailand the hub of fake passports. 

[wvavin]

Is this news? Fake is everywhere for decades but the police are too busy helping themselves on checkpoints & road blocks!

Edited September 21, 2018 by wvavin

[cookieqw]

9 hours ago, Happy enough said:

this has been going on for at least 20 years and they had different tricks.

i knew a bloke from southampton years ago who ended up here and on his arse.

one thing they did. they would take his passport and make a fake of it.

he said he would check into the flight using his passport, in departures he would have to meet the person to be smuggled (flies in on a transit flight so doesn't enter thailand) and he would give them the boarding pass then he would simply walk(apparently could then and immo paid also) from departures to arrivals and simply join a large queue and enter back in to thailand whilst the other person boards the flight.

apparently easier to get on the plane with crappy fake passport if already through immo and have boarding pass.

idea being that person would then flush their passport in the plane and claim asylum and have no docs on arrival in european country.

another one was smuggling girls to japan to work in 'factories'. hookers basically.

so he would book a weekend away to tokyo with his thai girlfriend, arrive in tokyo, spend a few days there and travel back to thailand alone.

that's what he got caught for, he'd done it a few times and for not a lot of money, 25k a time or something.

he'd done it about 3 times and was on his way out of tokyo and they pulled him up.

Game over, ended up in jail in japan for the next decade, not sure whatever happened to him after that.

imagine all that's much more complicated now.

yes,  i was transiting bkk,  london - singapore late 60's  and i just walked out of airport, didnt walk far but i was definately outside by the taxi ranks.  very laid back  back in the day

[007 RED]

I’m really not sure that this article is factually correct.  Immigration officers at the ports of entry and departure do not need to be able to identify if a passport is fake or not.  The computer system does it for them.

 

When the IO places the passport onto the scanner on their desk, the scanner reads the information at the bottom of the photo page between the <<<< >>>>.  Using an Optical Character Recognition programme, the computer uses certain elements of the date of birth, passport number and expiry date to produce an encryption key that unlocks the information held on the microchip embedded in the passport. 

 

The encrypted information held on the microchip is the same information as contained on the photo page of the passport (including the holder’s photo).  It is the information from the microchip that is then displayed on the IOs screen so the IO can see at a glance that the info on the photo page of the passport matches that being displayed on his/her screen.

 

Also when the IO takes a photo of the traveller, a facial recognition software programme in the computer system compares the new photo with that held on the microchip and then gives the IO a feedback that the photos match or not.

 

The microchip also has additional security features which will show up if any of the data on the microchip have been altered.

 

So called biometric chip passports were introduced in mid-2005 and some 160 countries have subsequently adopted the use of them.

 

In July of this year the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which runs under the auspices of the United Nations, approved that the finger prints and iris scan information may also be included on the microchip.  These additional features are not mandatory and it will be up too individual countries ID issuing authorities to decide if they are to be included on the chip. 

 

Because of the security surrounding the embedding of the encrypted information onto the microchip, this has made it extremely difficult for forgers to replicate or alter a so called biometric passport.

 

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it is impossible.  I would be a fool if I did.  But the introduction of the microchip has made it extremely difficult to forge or alter a passport and much easier to detect a forgery or altered passport.

[9KPhalak]

Speaking for the majority of Americans in the United States we thank the Thai immigration officials for doing their part in fighting the global epidemic of illegal immigration.  

[SOTIRIOS]

...how long are we gonna pretend that all these crimes originate elsewhere...???

 

...jeez....

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Why enter Thailand with a fake passport when you could enter on your genuine one, and then get a fake one done here so easily.

Indian fake passports are better quality & cheaper !

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

How does stopping in Thailand facilitate getting into another country on a fake passport ? You still queue up with everyone else to enter any country. Its not like there is a special desk at the destination were they dont check your passport because you transited through Thailand.

Yes you may go through the same desks as normal but they are manned differently depending on the inbound flight.. 

ie more attention is paid to passengers inbound from India as apposed from Thailand!

[VBF]

On 9/22/2018 at 1:42 AM, hotchilli said:

Yes you may go through the same desks as normal but they are manned differently depending on the inbound flight.. 

ie more attention is paid to passengers inbound from India as apposed from Thailand!

And UK Customs does the same - even after one has cleared PP Control. I've sometimes been stopped going through the "nothing to declare" channel at LHR/LGW and the first question is "where have you arrived from today?" I presume that the answer "Thailand" makes them start looking for fake goods when they search my bags!

 

Immigration and Customs officers the world over are not entirely stupid even if some appear obstructive or arrogant!

Edited September 23, 2018 by VBF

[SuperTed]

Ask the thousands of Uighurs who entered Thailand without passports by paying 10-12,000 THB at the Cambodian border, picked up a fake Turkish passport, and traveled to Turkey so that they could proceed to Syria and fight for ISIS.

Communist propaganda from China


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[zaphod reborn]

4 hours ago, SuperTed said:

Communist propaganda from China


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Right.  Tens of thousands of fake Turkish passports found in Thailand and Malaysia.  Given the facts behind the Erawan bombing, you would have to be stupid or blind not to see the connection.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/turkeys-passport-scandal-and-settlements-in-syria/

[Derek B]

On 9/21/2018 at 9:33 AM, Happy enough said:

this has been going on for at least 20 years and they had different tricks.

i knew a bloke from southampton years ago who ended up here and on his arse.

one thing they did. they would take his passport and make a fake of it.

he said he would check into the flight using his passport, in departures he would have to meet the person to be smuggled (flies in on a transit flight so doesn't enter thailand) and he would give them the boarding pass then he would simply walk(apparently could then and immo paid also) from departures to arrivals and simply join a large queue and enter back in to thailand whilst the other person boards the flight.

apparently easier to get on the plane with crappy fake passport if already through immo and have boarding pass.

idea being that person would then flush their passport in the plane and claim asylum and have no docs on arrival in european country.

another one was smuggling girls to japan to work in 'factories'. hookers basically.

so he would book a weekend away to tokyo with his thai girlfriend, arrive in tokyo, spend a few days there and travel back to thailand alone.

that's what he got caught for, he'd done it a few times and for not a lot of money, 25k a time or something.

he'd done it about 3 times and was on his way out of tokyo and they pulled him up.

Game over, ended up in jail in japan for the next decade, not sure whatever happened to him after that.

imagine all that's much more complicated now.

Nowadays when you go through departures/security with your boarding pass you photo is linked to the boarding pass and presumably your photo flashes up at the gate of boarding.

 

[anon789561]

2 minutes ago, Derek B said:

Nowadays when you go through departures/security with your boarding pass you photo is linked to the boarding pass and presumably your photo flashes up at the gate of boarding.

 

yeah this was before the twin towers and stuff, actually not long before the twin towers, same year i think. no way could they get away with that now

that's how he told me it worked anyway, bloody stupid really, it's human trafficking for christs sake