1,327 forged documents were seized by “Dubai Residency” during 2023

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai revealed that it seized 1,327 forged and forged documents during the past year, including passports and documents related to facilitating travel procedures, such as identity cards, residence cards, and entry visas to the country.

The advisor to the administration's Document Inspection Center, expert Aqeel Ahmed Al-Najjar, confirmed to Emirates Al-Youm that the latest methods used to detect counterfeit documents are the use of software to compare the original visually variable shapes (Hologram) and similar shapes in documents of questionable authenticity. And using 3D technologies to detect printing methods added to personal photos in the passport and modifying them to match the forged photo in the document of questionable authenticity.

He added that the administration possesses all the modern devices to detect forged travel documents, including the “DocuBox Pro” device, which contains visible and invisible rays in the full spectrum of rays, devices that read the information stored in the chips in passports, and a device to read the chips in passports. And another for remote inspection.

He pointed out that examining travel documents to determine whether they are authentic or not takes a few seconds, but it may take longer than that depending on the accuracy of the forgery or forgery.

He added: “In many cases, the forged document is detected using very simple detection methods, such as magnifying glasses.”

Al-Najjar stated that the number of employees in the document inspection center is 62 employees, who are travel document inspection experts and administrators, and all of them have undergone many training courses, such as methods for detecting forgery, advanced forgery, and detecting plagiarism.

As for the most prominent challenges facing those working in detecting travel documents, they are represented by the development of forgery and counterfeiting methods in documents, which requires keeping up with fraudulent innovations by reviewing and attending conferences and workshops and building an information network with workers in the same field to receive alerts through them.

He stressed that the Document Inspection Center is keen to be a pioneer in the future in the field of examining fraudulent travel documents, and to be a reference for the concerned authorities to ensure the integrity of travel documents by requesting advice from it, as is the case at its current level.

He stated that some travelers are victims of organizations or individuals who defraud them by giving them false travel documents on the basis that they are valid in exchange for large sums of money, calling on travelers to verify the entities authorized to issue travel documents before paying their prices and possessing them to use for transportation.