Croatia: Intricate Passport Forgery Scheme Thwarted

Published: 26 March 2013

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Seven men, including six Croatians and one Serbian citizen, were charged in connection with a forgery scheme which produced passports for mobsters connected to Balkan organized crime, including the infamous Zemun clan, according to a press release by Croatia’s Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK). The accused are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal acts, abuse of office, forgery and providing incentives for misconduct in office. Those indicted include Croatian civil servants responsible for the issuance of passports and monitoring of civilian identity databases, as well as police officers.

The successful forgeries required an understanding of the weaknesses and loopholes in passport distribution; infiltration of key civil servant positions was central to the group’s ability to avoid detection for years. The criminals had access to a government database of citizens’ personal data, and used this database to identify individuals in Croatia who did not have passports. These identities were then stolen.

A power-of-attorney form was forged so that sensitive documents, including birth certificates, citizenship documents and proof-of-residency papers could be accessed. These documents would be used to forge resident ID cards in either Bosnia or Serbia using the victims’ names, but the clients’ photos. These forged ID cards would be taken to Croatian consulates in Bosnia and Serbia, where accomplices working at the consulates would approve requests for new passports. The clients would walk away with functional passports bearing their photo, but someone else’s information.

The forged passports cost over $12,000 apiece; clients paid half up front and half upon completion. The scheme, which authorities say was in effect at least between 2006 and 2010, made the forgers over $870,000.