FAKED PASSPORTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22612, 28 December 1936, Page 13

FAKED PASSPORTS

INGENIOUS SCHEME CHINESE IMMIGRANTS CASES IN THE PAST Tn the great Eastern city of Hongkong there exists —so there is every reason to believe —a firm which carries on the strange business of buying passports for re-entry from Chinese who no longer need them and then ingeniously altering them to meet the requirements of clients. To look at one of these certificates it would be thought impossible to "fake" it, but money, and subtle ingenuity and patience can accomplish much. Five such frauds have actually been perpetrated in Now Zealand, but the customs authorities arc well aware of the scheme, and it is some time since anything of the kind has been attempted here. The certificates referred to are those issued to Chinese who, having gained permanent admission to New Zealand, desire to revisit their native land and then return again. A full description of the holder is entered on the permit, and then across each of the four corners of his photograph is stamped the round embossed seal of the Customs Department in such a way that it is partly on the photograph and partly on the document, in addition the signature of the Collector of Customs is written partly on the photograph and partly on the document. The Art of "Faking"

These papers are, of course, highly valued by those who own them, as they represent the only means of their return to the land of their adoption, but it sometimes happens that the holder dies when visiting China, or for some reason decides not to return. Then it is that the "firm" mentioned has an opportunity to buy the document | for the use of some prospective client! who desires to gain admission to the | country that the real owner of the j passport lias left. The problem of the j fakers is to get the client's photograph on some temporarily soft material that will take on it the imprint of the embossed seal from the corners of the original photograph. "When this lias been achieved the new photograph is substituted for the old and the part of the signature on the photograph is forged to fit in with the part on the document. When the technical difficulties of this process have been overcome—as undoubtedly they have been with marked success in some cases—other difficulties remain to confront the man who would make use of the forged certificate. For one thing the document carries with it a detailed description of the legitimate holder, reference to which may easily cause the fraud to be detected. Furthermore a duplicate of the certificate is retained either at Auckland or at Wellington, and this Mould at once expose any alterations. Detection Easy Of course, if the immigrant lands at one port and the duplicate happens to be at the other he may perhaps escape detection for a time until a comparison has been made, but even this good fortune is not likely to benefit him for long. A suggestion has been made that the certificates should be issued in triplicate and copies kept in both Auckland and Wellington, which are the principal ports of entry, but attempted evasions of this nature arc so rare and so difficult ill this country that it is questionable whether the extra trouble would be worth while. Any detected in such a fraud are fined and possibly imprisoned and then deported back to their native land. A number of Chinese visit Xew Zealand on temporary permits, and they are sponsored by some fellow countryman who is a responsible merchant here. The guarantor makes it his business to see that the conditions of the temporary permit are faithfully complied with. One of these conditions is that the holder conies here purely on holiday and does not engage in work while he is here. If he is found doing so he is deported back to his country. In New Zealand the Chinese as a whole live up to their reputation as a law-abiding, peace-loving people, and there are no serious breaches of the immigration laws to trouble the authorities at the present time.