Forgery of the signature. Crime and Punishment

Increasingly, fraudsters of various levels are attracted to such a criminal act as the forgery of a signature. In criminal communities, experts are known, able in a matter of minutes to re-create a signature of any degree of complexity. And it's no secret that in everyday life this is a fairly common thing. For example, when the leader is not in place, and his signature is urgently required on the contract. But a rash and dashing stroke in a document under certain circumstances can cost someone not only recovery, but also freedom.

But the main trouble is that the falsifier can suffer because of the fake signature, but also the person using the document with it. Paradoxically, even if there is a real seal on the papers , the document is recognized as invalid with signs of imitation of the signature. Thus, a fake signature automatically makes any paper invalid. And to prove then in court that, using fake documents, you were in ignorance, it is quite difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the main signs of forgery.

The most common falsifications, made from memory or painting. As a rule, they are most difficult to identify, because they have many similarities with the original. Nevertheless, it is possible to detect the primary signs of imitation without any expensive examinations. These can be uneven lines or kinks due to hand trembling, traces of stopping the handle on strokes, a monotonous pressure. Small corrections or sketches are not excluded. Such defects occur due to the fact that the hand of the falsifier is forced to perform unusual movements, and also because of its desire to reproduce as accurately as possible the characteristic strokes on the signature. Accordingly, the forgery of the signature can be detected by careful examination. Ideally, it is desirable to compare the document's signature with its early originals.

It is much easier to determine a fake when the signature is made by a copy method. Although, as the well-known literary hero said, everything is possible with the modern level of the printing industry. Gradually, the methods of copying to the skylight or punching the paper go into the past. Forging a signature with carbon paper or a wet method leaves too many unnecessary tracks from using improvised materials. And at this time, technological progress does not stand still.

The scanner and high-quality color printer have become a real breakthrough in the manufacture of fakes. Advanced specialists in phony autographs are able to recreate the signature of any complexity and even give it the necessary color shade, while having minimal skills of using office equipment. This signature differs from the present only one main feature - the absence of depressed marks on paper from using a written instrument. But on closer examination, falsification can be exposed.

Whatever the quality of the fake signature, the punishment for its detection is inevitable. Of course, it is necessary to distinguish the degree of responsibility in different cases. It's one thing when a young schoolboy carefully draws the signature of a class teacher in a diary, and quite another is a falsification on a loan agreement or on a certificate giving any privileges. At present, the criminal responsibility for the forgery of the signature comes only if the purpose of its use has become the acquisition of some benefits.

Signs of the corpus delicti vary, but their meaning remains unchanged: the use of a fake signature is a forgery of documents or fraud. If the crime is not found in the actions of the imitator, then the case may result in administrative punishment, disciplinary punishment or dismissal from work.