Report: GAO obtains U.S. passport with fake documents
13 March, 2009
category: Government
A Government Accountability Office investigator was able to use false identities to fool U.S. State Department and Post Office workers and have a passport issued under a different name, according to a report from the Associated Press.
In all the investigator made four attempts to receive passport under fake names. With one, the investigator used the Social Security number of a man who died in 1965, a false New York birth certificate and fake Florida driver’s license. He received a passport four days later. In another instance, the investigator used a 5-year-old boy’s information but identified himself as 53 years old on the passport application.
Since 2001, government officials have tried to increase passport security and make it more difficult to apply with fake documents. Two members of the Senate Judiciary terrorism and homeland security subcommittee requested the investigation.
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