European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, Germany & Netherlands – ECCI
Fake British passports available on dark web ‘within minutes’
METRO – Fake passports are trading hands on the dark web with ‘frightening’ speed, according to cyber security experts.The counterfeit documents are listed complete with pricing and shipping information by ‘vendors’ who are operating in eBay-style forums.One seller of fake passports, provided in the form of digital scans, claimed they were ‘100% genuine’, with 499 available.The price per item is listed as $53.08 (£43.92) or 0.28675786 in the cryptocurrency XMR. Further personal documents being sold online by criminals include driving licences, Netflix emails and passwords, bank cards with ‘known balances’ and a ‘full UK personal identity data set’.
The criminal enterprises on the dark web – a layer of the internet where connections are usually encrypted and anonymised – have been uncovered by virtual private network NordVPN. Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at the provider, said: ‘The availability of fake passports and the speed with which they can be obtained is frightening.‘This is a classic example of profiteering criminals on the dark web taking offences that weren’t once committed at great scale and using technology to turn them into giant online industries.‘Law enforcement has a hard time keeping up and the result is that, whatever the buyer’s motivation, fake passports can be obtained in as little as a few minutes.’
Two listings on a dark web marketplace advertise ‘fullz’ – fraudster slang meaning the items come with a full package of fraudulent or stolen information. One advertises ‘fresh UK Fullz’, which includes a passport and a National Insurance number that are ‘all genuine’ according to the seller.The ID package is slightly more expensive than a single passport scan, costing $99.53 (£82.36), and can also be purchased in cryptocurrency.Others include ‘physical fake’ drivers’ licences and UK passports Scans are linked to online identity verification for other documents and payment systems such as for Paypal and gambling sites.William Taaffe, chief operating officer at Lockdown Cyber Security, addressed the Midlands Fraud Forum annual conference last week on how fraudsters are using technology to target, defraud and extort.
Mr Taaffe told Metro.co.uk: ‘The ease of obtaining counterfeit passports, documentation and certificates is an alarming global development.‘These documents are used to facilitate a multitude of criminal acts, as a mechanism to commit identity fraud, to unlawfully obtain work under false pretence and money laundering purposes when accessing cryptocurrency exchanges, the primary payment mechanism of ransomware. ‘Organisations should review their due diligence strategies and processes to help uncover these instances of fraud.’ The trade is said to pose a significant international security threat that has been linked to the activities of the Haqqani Network, a terror group acting as a powerbroker in the Taliban government.
Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, said: ‘Fraudulent identity documents and passports continue to present a serious security challenge.
‘These facilitate the movement of people, vehicles, money, and materiel across borders and through inspection points. As such, they are invaluable to criminal and terrorist networks alike and pose a serious security risk to the UK. Criminals and terrorists use fraudulent passports to circumvent border checkpoints, allowing them to travel around or even leave and re-enter the UK undetected and untraced.‘Fake passports also enable criminals and terrorists to live completely hidden under false identities and fraudulently get a job or open a bank account. It is vital that the trade of stolen passports is halted to protect British citizens from those who might want to enter the country with sinister intentions.’Dr Schindler drew on the ascendency of the Haqqani – one of the entities monitored by the New York-based thinktank – after the Western allies’ withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed in August last year.
‘Of particular concern in this regard is the control of leading members of the Haqqani Network over the interior ministry in Afghanistan and the national passport office,’ Dr Schindler said.‘This enables the Haqqanis, which manage the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida, to issue biometrically-secured Afghan passports to anyone under any identity they choose. ‘An additional challenge are the missing international standards for so-called “breeder documents”, such as birth, marriage and death certificates.‘These foundational documents are needed to establish the true identity of an individual. However, while passports follow international standards issued by the Civil Aviation Organization and are increasingly electronically and biometrically secured and therefore difficult to forge, obtaining a fraudulent passport through presenting forged “breeder documents”, which are hard if not impossible to verify, is offering a second route to hide a criminal or terrorist identity.’
In 2018, the Home Office outlined a range of measures the British government was taking to tackle online criminals, which included allocating more than £9 million to the UK’s ‘specialist capabilities’. The funding was intended to build on the ongoing work of The National Crime Agency’s Dark Web Intelligence Unit and the other relevant security and intelligence agencies. A new national training programme was also set up for police and the wider criminal justice system, sponsored by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, aimed at equipping officers to catch those operating in the clandestine online sphere.
Amber Rudd, the then Home Secretary, said the aim was ‘to disrupt and bring to justice those who use the dark web as a marketplace to trade illegal goods and services, including drugs, firearms and malware’.In March, French and Spanish police, supported by Europol, dismantled an organised crime group involved in distributing fake travel documents.The gang, which used the dark web, postal services and encrypted messaging apps, made counterfeits which were used by criminals in Europe involved in smuggling people to the UK, Ireland and the US. A spokesperson for Her Majesty’s Passport Office said: ‘The production of fake passports is a crime and those who attempt to cheat the system will face the full consequences of the law.‘The current blue passport is the most technologically advanced and secure British passport ever. Through its combination of physical and electronic security features, it remains one of the most trusted documents in the world, and is extremely difficult to counterfeit.’
