That does make the whole story sound phony. In 1981 I got one expedited to a week or two, but I had to go to the Federal Building in Philadelphia personally and pay a lot of money. I doubt you can get one that quickly off shoddy ID like this.
Larry Seltzer eWEEK.com Security Center Editor http://security.eweek.com/ http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/ Contributing Editor, PC Magazine [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dean Pierce Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 7:56 AM To: Paul Ferguson; [email protected] Subject: Re: [funsec] Post 9/11: Fake Passports Still Easy to Obtain How in the hell does anyone get a passport so quickly? When I got mine I paid out the ass for expedited delivery and it was still two months before it came in the mail. This was in 2006. - DEAN Paul Ferguson wrote: > Obviously child's play. > > Via The Boston Globe (AP). > > [snip] > > Using phony documents and the identities of a dead man and a 5-year-old > boy, a government investigator obtained U.S. passports in a test of > post-9/11 security. Despite efforts to boost passport security since the > 2001 terror attacks, the investigator fooled passport and postal service > employees four out of four times, according to a new report made public > Friday. > > The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative > arm, details the ruses: > > * One investigator used the Social Security number of a man who died in > 1965, a fake New York birth certificate and a fake Florida driver's > license. He received a passport four days later. > * A second attempt had the investigator using a 5-year-old boy's > information but identifying himself as 53 years old on the passport > application. He received that passport seven days later. > * In another test, an investigator used fake documents to get a genuine > Washington, D.C., identification card, which he then used to apply for a > passport. He received it the same day. > * A fourth investigator used a fake New York birth certificate and a fake > West Virginia driver's license and got the passport eight days later. > > > Criminals and terrorists place a high value on illegally obtained travel > documents, U.S. intelligence officials have said. Currently, poorly faked > passports are sold on the black market for $300, while top-notch fakes go > for around $5,000, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement > investigations. > > [snip] > > More: > http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/14/investi gat > or_uses_phony_documents_to_get_passports/ > > - ferg > _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list. _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
