Warning about counterfeiting of seals and documents of agencies and organizations

Fake from A-Z
Recently, Nghe An authorities have discovered and arrested many rings of counterfeiting seals and documents of agencies and organizations. Although the above crimes have been strictly handled by the law, counterfeiting seals and documents is still a prominent issue, causing public outrage. Through the cases that authorities have arrested, it can be seen that counterfeiting documents is very diverse and abundant, from diplomas, certificates, driver's licenses, vehicle registration papers, to health certificates, identity cards, land use right certificates, etc.

Fake diplomas and a fake QSD Certificate used in the scam. Photo: PX15

The subjects even forged labor recruitment contracts, war invalid cards, military records, demobilization decisions, and disability assessment results to serve their fraudulent job applications and war invalid and sick soldier benefits.

As in the case of Nguyen Thi Huong (born in 1954, residing in Tan Hoa block, Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city), this subject and her son Tran Dang Khuong (born in 1983) forged 283 fake seals of hundreds of universities and colleges across the country to legalize the forgery of diplomas and certificates. These fake documents were then sold to people who wanted to work abroad or apply for jobs. More brazenly, Huong also forged the seals of the Investigation Security Agency of Nghe An Police, the Provincial People's Court, the Investigation Police Agency, Vinh City Police, Nghi Loc District Police and other departments, branches and sectors in order to serve her illegal purposes.

According to the authorities, Nguyen Thi Huong is considered the “boss” of a ring that has been counterfeiting seals and documents of agencies and organizations in Nghe An for many years. Huong began counterfeiting seals and documents in 2005 and in 2006, the ring was broken up, and she was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended. The ring that Huong led was further broken up, and Huong was later sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended, with a 24-month probation period.

However, because the profit from counterfeiting seals and documents is too high, Huong still "returns to the old way". Huong and her son opened a "workshop" in her daughter's house in Nghi Loc district to counterfeit seals of hundreds of universities, colleges, agencies, and organizations, then stamped them on fake diplomas and certificates to provide to those in need. Huong sells each certificate for 300,000 VND, college diplomas for 600,000 VND, and university diplomas for 800,000 VND. If customers have a need, Huong and her son can make dozens of fake diplomas and certificates within a day.

Many fake seals of agencies and organizations forged by Nguyen Thi Huong. Photo: PX15

The boss of counterfeiting seals and documents, Nguyen Thi Huong. Photo: PX15

Recently, the authorities also arrested Tran Anh Tai (born in 1979) and his wife Nguyen Thi Hai Anh (born in 1982), residing at No. 18, Alley 2, Bach Lieu Street, Truong Thi Ward (Vinh City) for forging seals and documents. At Tai's house, the authorities seized dozens of high school diplomas, bachelor's degrees, motorbike driving licenses, identity cards, land use right certificates, school records... and many other personal documents...

Regarding seals, in the past, the stamps were produced by criminals who made fake documents by scanning and copying real stamps and then printing them in digital color. Fake signatures were also created using digital color printing or fake signature sets. The forgery was easily detected by the naked eye because it did not create a signature mark on the printout and the ink was not the same color as the stamp. To deal with this, the entire stamp and signature were created by the subjects from fake stamps using the laser engraving method. The stamps made using this method when used to stamp directly on documents were very sharp and difficult to distinguish with the naked eye because the ink was even and of the same color. The font and size on the stamp were edited using digital drawing software on the computer for high accuracy, similar to the real stamp, making detection increasingly difficult.

In fact, the use of fake seals, documents and papers causes huge losses, even in some cases hundreds of billions of VND, especially in transactions of buying and selling houses, land, and mortgages for credit loans. Fake seals and papers not only affect the operations of agencies and organizations but also affect the rights and lives of people. Many people have lost money because they believed in fake vehicle registration papers, land use right certificates, and labor recruitment contracts. For example, in the case of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhien (Dien Xuan commune, Dien Chau), she was scammed out of more than 800 million VND because she believed that the land use right certificate that Ngo Thi Xuan (living in the same commune) had mortgaged to borrow money was real. However, when the paper was verified, it was discovered that the paper was fake.

Although the current penalties for those who commit acts of counterfeiting seals and documents under the 2015 Penal Code and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2015 Penal Code have been increased, their deterrent effect is not high. Many cases are only punished with fines and non-custodial reform. Therefore, given the profits from counterfeiting seals and documents, these subjects still do not give up.

To contribute to preventing and effectively combating this type of crime, in addition to the drastic participation of functional forces in inspection and management, people need to raise awareness, not buy, sell, or use fake documents and certificates, and avoid assisting criminals.

In addition, for some areas, unnecessary procedures should be limited, forcing people, officials and civil servants to submit documents. This contributes to reforming administrative procedures, reducing social costs, saving people's travel time, and narrowing the "living space" for those who specialize in forging documents and papers for profit.