Passport fraud


A passport is a travel document issued by a government to a citizen of that country. The purpose of this document is to allow entry back into the home country, as well as access into other countries around the world by providing legal proof of identity and citizenship. Misusing a passport is a crime in many jurisdictions.

United States

'Passport fraud is a federal crime. Usually, this crime is committed to facilitate another crime such as, Illegal immigration, Contraband Smuggling, Economic crime, or Terrorism. The US department of state's law enforcement, Diplomatic Security Service have special agents who work with Law enforcement agencies in over 160 countries all over the world to investigate passport fraud. Millions of stolen passports are used by terrorists and other dangerous criminals at any given time and it is considered the single largest threat to U.S. National security.

Committing the Crime

Passport fraud is usually committed by:
Possible violations of the following statutes are investigated by the United States Diplomatic Security Service:
Statutes do not specify that the passport must be a US passport.

Conviction

If a person lied on a passport application form, they can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced up to 10 years in prison.
If the crime includes trafficing, narcotics, or both, the sentencing can be raised up to 15 years in prison.
If terrorism is involved, the penalty can be raised to 20 years in prison.
As well as being charged with further penalties, if the person is caught engaging in any of these additional illegal activities.