The misuse or counterfeit of another person’s documents is almost normalized among young people, mostly teenagers. This behavior is further encouraged by vendors, waiters, or security personnel whose duty is to verify the age and identity of individuals before selling certain items or allowing entry into clubs, but they often do so superficially or not at all. Instances of these types of abuses occur year-round, but there is a tendency for the misuse of IDs among young people to increase during certain periods, such as around graduation time, summer festivals, or New Year’s holidays.
There is no completely reliable data on the number of young people who use fake documents because the majority of cases are not reported, but a significant percentage of them will admit to having done so occasionally in anonymous surveys.
One less common form of document misuse is the use of forged documents purchased on the black market. According to official police data, the most commonly forged documents are driver’s licenses and ID cards issued by banks as they are the easiest to forge. A larger number of young people use the documents of older friends and siblings for these purposes.
Forging a document is, of course, illegal, but so is altering an existing document, as well as simply using someone else’s real document to misrepresent yourself, although this is considered a lesser crime. However, even misrepresentation with a document, while most often resulting in a fine, can result in prison time. It also results in a criminal record, which can affect your future ability to get a driver’s license or a job.
The general interest is to reduce this type of abuse to the lowest possible level. It is necessary for people whose job is to check documents in stores, clubs, and restaurants to take their work seriously and not to turn a blind eye, but to warn offenders of the consequences and to inform the police of serious cases of lawbreaking. However, in addition to penal measures, a constant, broader campaign is needed to raise awareness among young people, their parents, and those responsible for checking documents in all cases where the law requires it.
This seemingly harmless offense can easily have long-lasting consequences on someone’s life. Anyone who uses fake documents should seriously consider whether buying an energy drink or entering a club is worth such a high price.
Freja, an ID on your mobile phone, is free and easily accessible to all users, through a registration process that takes only a few minutes. It can be used as a personal ID at over 10,000 locations throughout Sweden. Freja has several security features that make it safer than a physical ID document. In addition to a picture and general user information, Freja contains a timer showing that the ID is active, a clock displaying the exact time and date, and a dynamic screen that responds to touch.
Moreover, when scanning the QR code on the screen of the Freja personal document with the Freja app, the same three-digit number appears on both the user’s phone and the person performing the verification.
