Cross-border fraud on the rise

Incidents of fraud in Namibia has increased during the past two years and imposters are now producing fake visa documents and removing authentic pictures from identity documents, replacing these with other photos.

This is according to Namibia's senior immigration officer Philemon Shikale who said that Namibia has strict immigration laws and this is forcing many travellers to forge their documents.

He was speaking at a Fraudulent Document Training course presented by diplomatic security investigators and experts from the US Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa to Namibian police officers, customs officials, immigration officers, Bank of Namibia officials, and members of the private sector.

The training which was facilitated the US embassy's regional security office focused on detecting imposters, regional travel document fraud trends, and security features of US travel documents.

Shikale said that due to the increase in the forgery of documents, these refresher training courses are necessary and should take place regularly.

The US assistant regional security officer for investigations, Cassius Gray, who facilitated the training, said these sessions are important as they help increase awareness of fraud within the organisation.

Participants learned techniques and received inspection equipment that will enable them to quickly identify imposters and fraudulent documents. Officers and officials that participated in the course are able to immediately implement this specialised training in their daily duties in border security, law enforcement, immigration and the private financial sector.

Protecting the integrity of government identity documents and identifying imposters decreases opportunities for identity theft, financial crimes and serves to assist border officials in securing Namibia's borders and ports of entry.

“International criminals do not respect international borders and laws and continue to look for opportunities to exploit.

This is why it is critical that nations work together to eliminate international criminal freedom of movement and fraudulent activities,” Shikale said.



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