1. Handwriting Analysis, Forgery, and Counterfeiting
Questioned Documents
Handwriting Analysis, Forgery, and Counterfeiting

2. Document Analysis = the examination and comparison of questioned documents with known material
Questioned Document = any signature, handwriting, typewriting or other written mark whose source or authenticity is in dispute or uncertain

3. Document Experts
Examine and compare questioned documents with known material (exemplar)
Investigate handwriting, computer printouts, commercial printing, paper, and ink

4. Document Experts (cont.)
Study threatening, ransom, or suicide notes
Can help identify a document’s author
NOT a “graphologist”, who studies the personality of the writer based on handwriting samples

5. Handwriting Analysis
Every person’s handwriting is unique and personalized
Can differ due to type of writing instrument, mood, age or stress
12 major characteristics of handwriting

7. Handwriting Examination
Determine authorship
Compare questioned document with exemplar (known sample)
Forgeries are documents made, adapted or falsified with intention to deceive someone

8. Analyzing a Handwriting Sample
Suspect provides writing sample (without knowing it will be used for comparison)
Letters, diaries, greeting cards, personal notes
Contains several words that appear in questioned document
Compare characteristics

9. Technology Naked eye / handheld lens / microscope
Biometric signature pads – computer pad recognizes signature based on speed, pressure and rhythm of signing name
Forensic Information System for Handwriting (FISH) – computerized handwriting database maintained by Secret Service

10. Forgery
Process used by criminals to make, alter, or falsify a person’s signature or another aspect of a document with the intention to deceive another

11. Forged documents can include:
Checks
Employment records
Legal agreements
Licenses
Wills
Fraudulence is forgery done for material gain.

12. Check forgery can include:
ordering another’s checks from a deposit slip
altering a check
intercepting another’s check, altering, and cashing it
creating a check from scratch

13. Preventing Check Forgery
Print checks on chemically sensitive paper
Use a large font size that requires more ink and makes alterations more difficult
Use high-resolution borders on the checks that are difficult to copy
Print checked in multiple color patterns
Embed fibers in checks that glow under different types of lights
Use chemical-wash detection systems that change color when a check is altered

14. Literary Forgery
Letters or other documents written by famous people can be very valuable:
Adolf Hitler (signature: $2000)
Albert Einstein (letter: $404,000)
Charles Darwin (letter: $20,000)
Abraham Lincoln (1864 letter: $3.4 million)
Theodore Roosevelt (letter: $8500)

15. Reagan letter called a forgery (2/11/06)
“A red-faced auction house was forced to withdraw a letter it believed was written and signed by the late President Ronald Reagan while he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease after it discovered it was a forgery.”
“The auction house thought the letter could fetch as much as $9,000.”
Forged letter from Ronald Reagan.
The forger traced over a copied form letter with a heavy felt-tip pen, which Reagan often used.

16. The best literary forgers aim to duplicate the original document by using materials similar to those used for the original:
old paper
chemically treated materials to fake an older look
inks mixed from substances that would have been used at the time
watermarks that add the appearance of age
tools and styles that would have been popular at the time

17. False documents or other items copied for the purpose of deception
Counterfeiting
False documents or other items copied for the purpose of deception

18. Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting money is a crime stretching back into ancient times. Items most often forged today include:
currency
traveler’s checks
food stamps
certain bonds
postage stamps

19. Know Your Money
Following the Civil War, it was estimated that 1/3 to 1/2 of the currency in circulation was counterfeit.
The Secret Service was established in 1865 to suppress counterfeiting.
In 1901, the Secret Service was tasked to protect the President.

20. Counterfeit Marking Pen (Iodine)
Most papers contain starch (turns brown/black with iodine pen)
Real currency: no starch (stays yellow with iodine pen)

21. Design Features of 1996 Issued Currency
Inscribed security thread
Microprinting (ex: “United States of America” along portrait)
Off-center portrait
Watermark of figure
Optically variable ink (green to black)

26. William McKinley, $500
Grover Cleveland, $1000
James Madison, $5000
Salmon Chase, $10,000

27. Facts and Figures
Interpol and U.S. law enforcement agencies estimate that companies lose $400 billion to $450 billion annually to counterfeiters.
Counterfeiting is perceived as a victimless crime and it is difficult to inspire public outrage.
Bulk mailing letters from banks, financial organizations, credit card companies offering services and bearing a signature of an officer of the company are used by forgers to create authentic-looking documents.

28. Facts and Figures
Gatherings of a large numbers of people are ideal for the passing of fraudulent checks and counterfeit money. It has been estimated that at the Atlanta, XXVI Olympic Games in 1996, there were over $4 million fraudulent travelers checks alone not to mention the printing of bogus tickets for events.
Overcrowding (and the resulting problems) at some sporting events with limited ticket sales were due in part to the use of counterfeit tickets bought from con men and scalpers.

29. Facts and Figures
States with problems of illegal immigration are a boon to counterfeiters of birth certificates.
Computer printers are of sufficient quality to reproduce nearly anything that can be printed. This includes birth certificates, gift certificates, checks, driver’s licenses, car titles and even college transcripts.
Travelers’ checks are issued by five major companies—American Express, Barclays, Visa, Citibank, and Thomas Cook. These companies have hidden images in their documents making counterfeiting difficult.