FSE London 2015: Why advisers should be vigilant about identity crime

The interactive session made use of examples of fraudulent documents that DC Knowles had come across during his work within Scotland Yard's Operation Amberhill,in which he provides a link between financial institutions and law enforcement to pro-actively prevent fraud by disseminating the details of forged and counterfeit documents that are seized in police operations.

The session prompted lively debate by the advisers in the audience, who shared their own ideas and experiences of recognising fraudulent documents. DC Knowles passed round real faked documents to illustrate how many forged identity documents seem, at first glance, to be legitimate.

He acknowledged that many advisers simply did not have training in recognising forged documents despite their responsibility to perform the appropriate due diligence, and he added: "Many advisers simply do not know where to look for information about this."

The session also raised the difficulties that advisers who primarily dealt with their clients by phone might face when looking to eliminate fraud risk, although Knowles also acknowledged that forged documents were often part of a set and that more organised fraudsters may have other forged ID that would corroborate their initial falsified information.