Passport Fraud Topic At State Dept. Of Health Conference
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel [email protected]
Michael Board, fraud prevention officer with the New Orleans Passport Services, was on hand to discuss passport fraud.
Board is one of 20 fraud prevention officers. He has personally adjudicated more than 1 million passports in his tenure.[[In-content Ad]]Board told the conference that one out of 1,300 applications is a fraud.
"One type of fraud we're seeing an increase in is the identity theft of a living person, where the thief goes to another state and changes his name," said Board.
Board said there are 150 fraud attempts per year that come out of Indiana, with half of those coming out of the Indianapolis area.
According to Board, Elkhart County has a high incidence of fraud attempts due to the high number of illegal aliens in the county.
Nearly 20 percent of frauds occur with the identity coming from Puerto Rico. Board said its common for non-Puerto Rican Hispanics to present themselves as Puerto Rican or Mexican-American.
The prosecution of passport fraud, Board said, is mainly up to which of the 93 United States attorneys gets the case.
"Some of them love our cases while some aren't because of politics or their own personal beliefs," said Board.
The reason a person commits passport fraud, according to Board, can range from professional killers trying to get in or out of the country, to people who want to shave a year or two off their age.
When Board opened things up for a question-and-answer session, someone in the audience asked Board what his thoughts were on matriculas. Matriculas are identification cards issued by the Mexican government which are often used by resident aliens as a form of ID.
"I spent some time in Juarez, Mexico, for training," said Board. "And I came away very impressed with matriculas and Mexico's record keeping. They are very conscious of keeping accurate records that are credible."
Board said that despite the best efforts of the U.S. and Mexican governments, with enough money it's still fairly easy for illegal immigrants to get fake identities.
"There are people hanging out in Super Wal-Marts all across the country where, if you have $1,000, you can get a Puerto Rican birth certificate and Social Security number," Board said.
Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. William L. Remington, Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Judith Monroe, State Registrar Cory Ealy and Indiana State Department of Health Supervisor of Vital Records Chris Mickens all spoke at the conference Thursday morning.
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Michael Board, fraud prevention officer with the New Orleans Passport Services, was on hand to discuss passport fraud.
Board is one of 20 fraud prevention officers. He has personally adjudicated more than 1 million passports in his tenure.[[In-content Ad]]Board told the conference that one out of 1,300 applications is a fraud.
"One type of fraud we're seeing an increase in is the identity theft of a living person, where the thief goes to another state and changes his name," said Board.
Board said there are 150 fraud attempts per year that come out of Indiana, with half of those coming out of the Indianapolis area.
According to Board, Elkhart County has a high incidence of fraud attempts due to the high number of illegal aliens in the county.
Nearly 20 percent of frauds occur with the identity coming from Puerto Rico. Board said its common for non-Puerto Rican Hispanics to present themselves as Puerto Rican or Mexican-American.
The prosecution of passport fraud, Board said, is mainly up to which of the 93 United States attorneys gets the case.
"Some of them love our cases while some aren't because of politics or their own personal beliefs," said Board.
The reason a person commits passport fraud, according to Board, can range from professional killers trying to get in or out of the country, to people who want to shave a year or two off their age.
When Board opened things up for a question-and-answer session, someone in the audience asked Board what his thoughts were on matriculas. Matriculas are identification cards issued by the Mexican government which are often used by resident aliens as a form of ID.
"I spent some time in Juarez, Mexico, for training," said Board. "And I came away very impressed with matriculas and Mexico's record keeping. They are very conscious of keeping accurate records that are credible."
Board said that despite the best efforts of the U.S. and Mexican governments, with enough money it's still fairly easy for illegal immigrants to get fake identities.
"There are people hanging out in Super Wal-Marts all across the country where, if you have $1,000, you can get a Puerto Rican birth certificate and Social Security number," Board said.
Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. William L. Remington, Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Judith Monroe, State Registrar Cory Ealy and Indiana State Department of Health Supervisor of Vital Records Chris Mickens all spoke at the conference Thursday morning.
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