Visa frauds and passport deception were just newspaper material and overlooked generally by the people. But what happens when Hyderabad and Bengaluru are announced as counterfeit hubs for passport and visas? Police sources are busy investigating these two places as they have developed a reputation for dealing with visa passport hoax rackets. Bengaluru and Hyderabad are said to be running such rackets and news says that agents of these places have a hand in smuggling of under 14 children to the US. Reports say that the hub deals with fraudulent paperwork for United Kingdom and United States of America mostly.
There are not many fraud and fake identity documentation cases brought to light but there are plenty of cases reported where fraud passport and visa documentation have been submitted to the authorities to obtain visas. Fake work experience documents and educational record certificates are usually used for applying for a business visa many times.
A police official who was appointed with the passport division has stated “The large number of people visiting the US and the UK on short work stints from Bengaluru and their vibrant cultural demography offers a cover for those with questionable or fake documents across the country to be also routed through Bengaluru”.
The alleged child smuggling had created a great uproar in the city and because of this the authorities have increased vigilance and they are verifying the papers very carefully. In another similar incident A sharp shooter in September 2015 had come to the city and regarding this a constable had ended up behind bars for verifying his passport wrongly. A senior police official said that they were helpless if the person has all identity papers that are true but are created on impersonated names. He gave his statement regarding the child smuggling case and has said that “Tightening the screws in police verification alone will not help. There needs to crack down on all touts who get you PAN cards, EPIC and driving licenses. Once you procure any one of these documents based on dubious credentials, procuring the rest of the documents based on these is very easy,”
City police are now all geared up and may write to transport agencies, BBMP, and other agencies about these fraud actions. Remember Chotta Rajan? He had obtained an impersonated passport under the name “Mohan Kumar from Mandya” and he even used this passport to reach Indonesia from Australia. This was where he was arrested.
All a person has to do is carry out a web search for visa and passport agents and leave a phone number. The agents take over and start to ask if you need a passport. The Hindu spoke to one of the agents and the agent demanded Rs. 3000 and an SSLS Marks card assuring a passport in 20 days time. He assured the daily to provide new bank account with a new address in order to complete the documents for address proof. You can even get fraudulent identification papers like EPIC, driving license, PAN card, etc and any other paper needed to get a passport or visa.
In January 2016, the CCB got a complaint from the UK visa officials about fake immigration stamps issued by three travel firms . Nearly 8 cases of forged documentations issued were brought to light.
