Fake ID Documents
What employers need to know about fake identities, risks, and how to protect themselves.
A Hidden Reality
Most employers in Sweden do not identify with the debate on labor market crime. Many employers therefore do not consider measures against the issue necessary. At the same time, large parts of Swedish working life today are unaware of the fact that they contribute to the shadow society and organized crime through inadequate ID checks on their own employees.
Simply put, they do not know who they are hiring, taking references on, or conducting background checks on. This leads to significant risks for the employer, the individual, and society.
A Growing Challenge in Sweden
In Sweden, we have a long tradition of trusting that people are who they claim to be. For about 10 years now, there has been reason to reevaluate this perspective. Today, Swedish authorities estimate that a large number of people live under false identities in the country.
Today's fake ID documents and fake work and residence permits are very well-made and difficult to detect. The purpose is for the individual to establish themselves in society with their new identity, and the ID documents can be used both in contact with authorities and employers.
Fake ID documents are easy to obtain. They can be purchased openly online but can also be bought on credit directly from criminal organizations, with promises of work and housing in Sweden.
The number of vulnerable people who cannot use their own identities in society has increased during this 10-year period. Individuals often face two choices: work illegally for a criminal company or turn to organizations that provide fake ID documents to then establish themselves in the legitimate labor market. People in this situation represent all ages and include both men and women.
The trade in fake ID documents is a global billion-dollar industry. It is also strongly intertwined with human smuggling, trafficking, corporate espionage, and terrorism.
Barriers to Effective Identity Verification
Culture of Silence
In the labor market, cases related to fake ID documents are handled as isolated incidents. Fear of negative brand exposure, responsibility for individual employees, and risk of fines and revenue loss mean that many cases are only handled internally with utmost discretion. The scope of the problem is therefore rarely viewed in its entirety, and important knowledge dissemination is lost. It is only during police inspections that the forgeries are revealed to the public.
Negligence and Naivety
Conducting a proper ID check without access to technical equipment can feel inconvenient for the person conducting the check. Therefore, the photo on the ID document is rarely compared with the individual, no check of the signature and validity period is conducted, and no control questions about height, place of birth, nationality, and date of birth are asked. Examination of security features and comparison against reference databases are rarely performed.
Lack of Tools and Knowledge
A recruiting manager often lacks both technical equipment and expertise to conduct proper identity validation. There is also often low awareness of the size of the problem, its risks, and document forgery in general.
Digitalization
Today, large parts of companies' recruitment processes are digitalized. ID checks, aimed at ensuring that the individual is truly the person they claim to be, are often inadequate in these processes. It is not enough to look at a held-up ID document via a digital meeting or to look at a scanned image of the ID document. To conduct proper ID validation, a physical meeting with trained personnel, often with the help of electronic equipment, is required.
eID
It has become common for employers to believe that the process of signing an employment contract using an eID fulfills the function of identity verification before employment. eID is primarily designed to access one's own information. Criminals have long used eID to manipulate other types of identification processes. It also occurs that eIDs are issued to individuals after they have identified themselves using false identities. When identifying with eID, work rights verification cannot be conducted either.
Background Checks and Procedures
Background checks, security screening, and reference taking are important tools. But if the process has not started by ensuring who the check is actually being conducted on, these are not meaningful. There is also often a lack of process descriptions for how the organization should act when discovering a forged ID document or work permit.
Threats to Employers and Society
Undue Influence, Espionage, and Sabotage
People living under false identities have built their lives on a lie and often lose more than just their job upon exposure. The false identity is also used during bank visits, in contact with authorities, and to obtain housing. This makes individuals operating with fake ID documents particularly sensitive to external influence, such as if the criminal organization that provided the fake ID documents were to have vested interests with the employer.
Theft
It is common for people using fake ID documents to operate under multiple identities. When a person manages to secure employment under one of these identities, it can become difficult to hold the person accountable for thefts. If the candidate had malicious intent from the start, the employer risks losing both property and information.
Accidents and Incidents
If a person is injured or dies on the job, and it later emerges that the employer did not know who the person really was, the employer may face several uncomfortable challenges, not least in discussions with authorities and insurance companies.
Violation of Immigration Law
Swedish employers are legally obligated to ensure employees' right to work in Sweden. Employers risk fines or imprisonment if they hire a person who does not have the right to work in Sweden. Immigration Law, Chapter 20, Section 5: Fines or imprisonment for up to one year are imposed on those who intentionally or negligently employ a foreigner who does not have the right to reside in Sweden or lacks the required work permit.
Negative Brand Exposure
Negative brand exposure is risked in cases revealing inadequate checks of working conditions. This became evident after several authorities conducted a joint inspection at the Northvolt construction site in Skellefteå. The main contractor is also responsible for subcontractors, as the district court established in a ruling against Skanska in 2021.
Bait and Switch Interviews
A person attends a job interview, secures employment, identifies themselves with BankID, and has work rights. When it is time for the first workday, another person appears with a forged ID document bearing the same name and personal details. This method has been used to establish vulnerable people in the Swedish labor market, who are exploited as tools for crime by criminals.
Fake Identities in the Workforce
In England, "right-to-work" and "right-to-rent" rules have been introduced to ensure that those working and living in the country have the right to do so. According to a recent report, 17% of the fake ID documents uncovered in the country during 2022 were in the healthcare sector. Rental housing ranked second (14%), and labor for the construction industry came third (13%).
The differences between England and Sweden are likely small, and the dark figure in the Swedish labor market is significant.
Inadequate ID checks have already led to serious consequences for a publicly traded healthcare company, which lost over 50% of its market value in early 2023 after using labor without work rights in Sweden.
Furthermore, services such as cooked meals delivered by bicycle couriers, cheap taxi rides home from the bar, packages and groceries delivered from warehouses to doors the same day, as well as cleaning and service jobs, have flourished over the past 10 years. Many today believe that it is primarily IT that has enabled these services.
How Many Live Under Fake Identities in Sweden?
Estimates range from 50,000 to 500,000 individuals. Exact numbers are not available, but the dark figure is likely significant.
Sistec is the only company in Sweden specializing in identity validations of individuals. This is offered as a service to companies that want to do the right thing. We have conducted about 250,000 checks on individuals who are to be employed or given access to a workplace. Forgeries are uncovered every week in this work.
Sistec släppte nyligen en rapport om falska ID-handlingar på den svenska arbetsmarknaden under 2022 som går att ladda ner här.
Minister for Migration Magdalena Malmer Stenergard
Expressen, 2022-12-05: "According to the government, it concerns over 100,000 people who are illegally residing in Sweden"
Debate in the Swedish Parliament
Interpellation 2021/22:166: "The Swedish Migration Agency estimated in 2017 that there are close to 60,000 individuals registered with two or more known identities at the Swedish Migration Agency."
Police in SVT on Fake Passports
2015: "The forgeries are so well-made that laboratory tests are required to detect them" ... "the dark figure is enormous when it comes to the prevalence of fake passports."
What Is Being Done Today?
Swedish courts have started taking the issue seriously over the past year. Many who have been convicted of violating immigration law in the past year have been convicted of negligence offenses. The court has thus determined that there was no intent, but that the accused employer also did not do enough to ensure work rights.
The Police, Skatteverket, Arbetsmiljöverket, and several other authorities have also started taking measures to address the problem over the past year, not least through the new A-crime initiative.
Swedish employers could be of great help in this work by only hiring staff after ensuring verified identity.