Criminal ring producing 10,000 fake land use rights certificates and citizen identification cards apprehended

Police dismantle ring producing, trading 10,000 fake citizen identification cards, driver's licenses, land use rights certificates, police and military ID cards

On 19/5, Lai Chau provincial police announced that the investigative police agency had prosecuted hai masterminds, Pham Van Khanh, 36, and Pham Van Khuong, 33, along with 6 others. They face charges of forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations.

According to police, Khanh and Khuong leveraged social media to advertise, receive orders, and sell fake documents to customers nationwide. After receiving customer information, the hai individuals edited data and created false details. This information was then transferred to a private group of accomplices in Gia Lai to complete the products.

Seized exhibits. *Photo: Provided by police*.

In Gia Lai, the group rented a house in Thong Nhat ward, using it as a production site. Here, they concealed machinery, equipment, blank documents, and data essential for their forging operations. The types of fake documents produced included: chip-attached citizen identification cards, driver's licenses, diplomas, certificates, land use rights certificates, vehicle registration certificates, and police and military identification cards.

Each forged document was sold for 1,5 to 3 million VND, depending on the type. The investigation revealed that this group operated openly on social media, regularly running advertisements to attract new customers.

Lai Chau police provide information about the case. *Photo: Provided by police*.

In TP HCM, a separate branch managed the distribution phase. Once the fake documents were transferred from Gia Lai, this group sorted, packaged, and delivered them to customers across many provinces and cities, thereby profiting from the illicit trade.

During emergency searches conducted on 15/5 and 17/5, police seized a substantial amount of machinery and equipment used for forging documents. These included: mot computer set, 5 color printers, a laminator, an embossing machine, along with thousands of stamps, blanks, and electronic data. The seized exhibits also encompassed: 1,665 anti-counterfeit stamps, 196 reflective stamps, 73 stamp impressions, 35 plastic card blanks, 122 diploma-certificate blanks, and 137 driver's license application blanks.

Initially, the group admitted to forging approximately 10,000 documents, seals, and papers belonging to agencies and organizations. These were sold to customers nationwide, generating many billions of VND in illicit profits.