$235 buys fake Hong Kong ID in Guangdong
Gangs of forgers are selling hundreds of fake Hong Kong identity cards each month in cities across Guangdong, raising fears over the integrity of genuine cards, the Sunday Morning Post has discovered.
An investigation has revealed that a basic ID card can be bought on the streets in Shenzhen for as little as 250 yuan (HK$235), while a more sophisticated version using personal details stolen from genuine cards sell for three times that price.
Police say that while the quality of the copies is not good enough to foil checks carried out by their officers or the Immigration Department, the bogus cards are good enough to fool banks and shops and business registration procedures.
Last night Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun called on the government to hold urgent talks with the Shenzhen authorities to clamp down on the trade, saying it was an attack on the integrity of official Hong Kong documentation. Mr To, who is chairman of the Legislative Council's security panel, described it as a very serious problem.
'It's an attack on the integrity of Hong Kong legal documents. If people lose faith in the credibility of our ID documents, our commercial interests and legal credibility would be under threat,' said Mr To. A Post reporter was offered a basic fake Hong Kong ID card for about 250 yuan, and a 'top grade' copy for 600 yuan, by a man who said his name was Li Ming and who claimed to work for a company called South Asia Evidence (Group) Limited.
'We will use the personal data of a real Hong Kong resident for the grade-A fake. All things will be the same apart from the picture,' he said.
Li Ming claimed this top-of-the-range fake ID card could pass police checks, although not the force's computer.
'As long as you don't use it for the border crossing it will be fine. I even have clients who have used it to open bank accounts and get personal loans,' he claimed.
News of the brazen trade comes days after a government source revealed that mainland women were able to buy a travel document on the mainland for $3,700 to come to Hong Kong and work as prostitutes.
In January, the kidnapper of Li Kai-wing - grandson of the late multi-millionaire and philanthropist Li Po-chun - used a fake ID card to rent a warehouse in Yuen Long, which was used in the abduction.
Li Ming said they sold more than 100 fake ID cards a day, with many going to SAR residents.
He said in the past Hong Kong residents only bought fake mainland university degrees or diplomas.
'Some buy Hong Kong ID cards to let their mainland relatives work in Hong Kong.
'Some want to register businesses under different names. I don't care what they use it for to be honest,' he said.
He said South Asia Evidence was 'a trustworthy and massive-scale' company. 'We have business in every big [mainland] city. We believe reliable quality is the only way for business to survive.'
A Hong Kong police officer who examined the ordinary-quality fake ID card the Post bought said it could fool shopkeepers but not the trained eye.
'We have learned to tell the real from the fake by several security features. This fake card is thicker than the real one. Its lines are not as clear. And by its issuing date, it should be 10 years old but it still looks brand new,' he said. But he believed it could easily fool most people.
'If you just take a glance, it's real enough. Most shopkeepers or employers won't look very hard at ID cards; most of the time they just need a photocopy anyway.'
He urged the government to take the issue seriously and to discuss it with Shenzhen authorities.
'It affects the Shenzhen side as well. We should talk with the mainland authorities and take action since these people are touting this business openly.'
Hong Kong police arrested 160 people for producing fake ID cards in the first six months of the year. Last year they arrested 236 forgers. They also found 789 people using or possessing forged identity or travel documents last year. The figure for the first half of this year was 240.
A police spokeswoman last night stressed that anyone found using or possessing fake ID cards could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined $100,000.
An Immigration Department spokesman said the department believed the problem would be solved with the introduction of smart ID cards next year.
