Forgery and Its Types

Forgery and Its Types

Introduction to Forgery –

• FORGERY TYPES -

  • TRACED

  • DIGITAL

  • TANSFERRED

  • FREEHAND

  • MEMORY

Freehand Forgery (Simulated Forgery) –

This occurs when a person tries to imitate the handwriting or signature of another person without using any mechanical aid.

Characteristics:

1. Done purely by visual comparison and practice.

2. Contains natural variations due to the forger's own writing habits interfering.

3. Often lacks the speed and fluency of genuine handwriting.

4. Forensic examiners look for signs of hesitation, tremors, and patching.

🧠 Forgery by Memory (Memory Forgery) –

Forgery by memory is a type of freehand forgery in which the forger reproduces a signature or handwriting from memory—meaning they do not have a sample of the genuine signature in front of them during the act of forgery.

The forger relies on their recollection of what the signature or handwriting looks like, based on previous exposure.

Traced Forgery –

Involves tracing over a genuine signature or handwriting to duplicate it.

Methods:

• Tracing paper: Placing a transparent sheet over the original and copying.

• Backlight method: Using a lightbox to see and trace the signature from underneath.

• Indentation: Placing a blank sheet over the original and tracing with pressure to leave indentations.

• Carbon paper tracing

🔹

Characteristics:

1. Uniform pressure due to slow movement.

2. Lack of fluency.

3. Hesitations, tremors, and pen lifts are common.

4. Often detected through microscopic analysis and examination of pen pressure

Transferred Forgery –

The genuine signature or handwriting is physically lifted or copied and placed onto another document.

🔹 Techniques:

1. Cut and paste: The signature is cut from a genuine document and glued onto a fake.

2. Photocopying or scanning: A genuine signature is copied and printed.

3. Digital forgery: Signature is scanned and inserted into digital documents.

🔹 Characteristics:

1. The ink or pixel pattern may not match the rest of the document.

2. Misalignment or mismatched resolution in digital copies.

3. May leave signs of tampering like glue marks or image artifacts.

Forgery by Impersonation -

Occurs when someone is asked to sign a document pretending to be someone else, often in person.

🔹 Characteristics:

• May resemble genuine signature superficially.

• Lacks the internal consistency of natural handwriting features.

• Sometimes harder to detect if the impersonator has practiced extensively.

Forgery and its types