Friday, 1 May 2015 - 15:40
Utrecht intern busted in passport forgery scheme
An intern working at the municipality of Utrecht is suspected of falsifying 13 passports between October 2014 and January this year. The suspect, an 18 year old man, has been suspended and banned from the city office.
According to RTL, the intern's fraud came to light after someone reported that his passport was blocked incorrectly. The man reported it to the police, who referred him to the municipality. It turned out that the man's passport was reported missing by someone else.
Further investigation showed that this had been done to a total of 13 passports. The intern had reported the 13 passports missing and then applied and issued replacements himself, using different photographs and personal details.
The municipality of Utrecht has now taken additional measures to ensure that something like this can't happen again. There is now an additional check when applying for a replacement for a missing passport. The municipality also put a block on the system so that the application and issuance of a passport can not be done by the same employee.