Fake ID card printing ring busted

Police have arrested people in Harare who were allegedly printing fake national identity
documents and the suspects will appear in court soon. In a statement yesterday, the
RegistrarGeneral’s Office said the system was alert to any shenanigans. “The Registrar-
General security got a tip off about criminals who are printing fake national identity
documents and sought the assistance of the police to arrest the culprits,” the RG’s office
said.
“The culprits were indeed arrested and are in police custody. The Registrar-General (Mr
Tobaiwa Mudede) recently had workshops in Harare and Bulawayo on document fraud,
encouraging individuals and the corporate world to verify with the department on any civil
registration document whose authenticity they are not satisfied with.”
The RG’s Office said it had the capacity to detect fraudulent documents.
“It is advised that people should not part with goods, property or money if they are in
doubt of the document which their client has presented,” read the statement.
“The department has a robust civil registration system and state-of-the- art equipment
which is able to detect fraudulent documents.’
The RG’s office added: “Also because of the vibrant and technologically advanced system
that the Registrar-General’s Department developed, people are encouraged to change their
metal identity documents (IDs) to the biometric machine readable polythene-sythentic
card.”
At a workshop in Bulawayo last week, Mr Mudede said companies and individuals were losing
millions of dollars due to fraud involving fake identification documents.
He said there was an increase in people who present fake identification documents to claim
from deceased estates, process international visas, claim compensation from insurance
companies, get employment or defraud companies and individuals.
Mr Mudede said it was important for authorities to check with his office before processing
anything as some people were producing counterfeit documents.
“From 2004 we have gone biometric and our documents have a lot of security features of
international standards,” he said.
“While we are doing this, there are those who want to live on fraud. They produce
counterfeits which are similar to our documents. They go to the authorities and produce
these counterfeits. The authorities don’t have machines to verify. They look at the
documents which look genuine and process benefits on the basis of what they have been
given.”
Felex Share Herald Reporter


















