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Banks Must Stay Alert for Counterfeit Passports, US Officials Warn

Banks and other financial institutions should be on guard against the use of counterfeit passport cards to fraudulently take over accounts, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN, warned in a 12-page notice Monday.

The notice lists 17 technical, behavioral and financial red flags of the typology, including a lack of raised text showing the card bearer’s birthdate and holographic printing of the State Department’s seal. Unlike full passports, U.S. passport cards can be used instead of a complete passport for travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda only.

“Illicit actors are counterfeiting U.S. passport cards because … [they] are a less familiar form of U.S. government-issued identification, thereby potentially decreasing the likelihood of detection by financial institutions,” FinCEN warned.

The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, or DSS, estimates that the scheme has claimed at least 4,000 victims to date and raked in millions of dollars in profits. Financial institutions should flag possible instances of the scheme in suspicious activity reports, and also advise the targeted account holders to report the attempted fraud to the DSS.

Moneylaundering.com may update this coverage as more information becomes available.
Topics : Anti-money laundering , Fraud
Source: U.S.: FinCEN
Document Date: April 15, 2024