If there is a suspicion that the data in any document is incorrect, its authenticity is checked. Intellectual forgery in documents is revealed through a technical and forensic investigation.
The essence of the concept of "document"
Documents include tangible objects in which legally relevant information about various incidents or alleged data is recorded. According to the norms of Article 83 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, documents are one of the main sources of evidence in those cases where they contain circumstances that are relevant to the case in question.
Material evidence in the following cases:
- they were means of committing a criminal offense;
- they were a means of concealing the crime;
- they were objects on which a criminal assault was committed.
Checking the existence of intellectual forgery and establishing the original content of the document is used in cases where there is doubt about the truth of the evidence.
Document Classification
The types of falsification of documents and their characteristics depend on the type of paper itself. There are four differentiation criteria: method of manufacture, source of origin, purpose and legal nature.
According to the first criterion, four types of documents are distinguished:
- typewritten;
- handwritten;
- printing (drawings, drawings);
- documents on various media (floppy disks, disks, flash cards).
The second criterion distinguishes the following types of securities:
- official, which come from state enterprises, institutions, bodies (driver’s license, passport, certificates);
- unofficial ones that come from citizens (letters, notes);
- anonymous, whose source is unknown.
According to the third criterion, two types of securities are distinguished:
- certifying any facts or rights;
- containing some information.
According to the fourth criterion, the following types of documents are distinguished:
The last criterion is the most important, since it is precisely by that that the intellectual forgery in the documents is determined, which is revealed through examination. Genuine is paper that is made by the proper official, and its content reflects actual reality.
Each document must contain the relevant details:
- Name and date.
- The full name and address of the organization that compiled the document.
- Parties that participate in the actions indicated in the content.
- Serial number.
- Signatures of all parties.
- Imprints of stamps and seals.
Fake documents
Fake papers are documents in which details or information do not correspond to reality. There are two types of falsification (forgery): material and intellectual.
Forgery of a material type implies that changes to the contents of a document are made by writing in the wrong information or by making completely fake paper.
The forgery of the intellectual type is expressed in the compilation and transfer to others of a document that is correct in its production and form, but contains obviously incorrect information. Intellectual forgery in documents is revealed through a technical and forensic investigation.
Document Authentication Rules
The main action contributing to the identification of intellectual forgery is the forensic investigation of a document. An investigative measure of this type includes a set of actions that help to identify and record signs that give the document the value of evidence.
Inspection of the subject helps to identify the following essential data:
- purpose and character;
- condition and appearance;
- content;
- requisites;
- document materials;
- signs confirming that the document is fake.
Checking the paper is carried out by using various light devices (ultraviolet, oblique incident rays, optical magnifiers, and so on).
The main objectives of the study
Due to the fact that recently the danger of intellectual forgery of documents has significantly increased, the following tasks are set for forensics:
- Determining the features of creating print media with prints.
- Establishing a way to make corrections to a document.
- Detection of smeared, drenched, poorly visible or faded texts.
- Identification of stamps, seals.
- Establishment of the limitation of the preparation of the document.
- Definition of materials.
Types of forgery in documents
Intelligent forgery in documents is identified by conducting checks to determine the type of changes made to the paper. The most common methods of forgery: etching, cleaning, correction, supplement, changing parts in the document.
Etching is the removal of text elements with chemicals that bleach the text. In this case, alkali and acid are used. With this method of forgery, the color of the paper changes, roughness and small cracks appear, the fragility of the sheet increases, dyes blur in strokes of fresh text.
Cleaning - removing parts of the text mechanically (with an eraser or a razor blade). With this method of forgery, the upper paper layer is violated, the thickness of the sheet is reduced, the ruler is damaged, dyes blur in the strokes of fresh text.
Correction - alteration of signs on the letter (letters and numbers). The forgery is noticeable due to differences in the intensity and thickness of the dyes, damage to the sheet in the corrected places.
Supplement - entering in handwritten text new phrases or characters. Changes are noticeable due to differences in the spaces between words, lines or letters in a word, smaller letter size, etc.
Replacing a part of a document - replacing one sheet of a document with another, pasting additional sheets or pulling out old ones, replacing photographs, and so on. The changes are noticeable due to a violation of the page arrangement (with numbering), differences in paper quality, discrepancy in sheet size, the presence of additional punctures, the absence of a print on the photo, etc.