Handwriting forgery is the act of duplicating someone’s handwriting to create fraudulent documents. It is challenging and requires practice. Forgery can be used to alter or create documents, and detecting it may require an expert. Famous forgeries have been discovered throughout history.
Handwriting forgery is the duplication of someone’s handwriting with the intent to create a document for fraudulent or other dubious use. The most common form involves forging signatures, but people can also copy handwriting to generate handwritten documents that purport to be written by someone else. Detecting handwriting forgery may require the services of an expert with extensive experience and training in the study of handwriting.
Copying handwriting is very challenging and requires substantial practice. Merely tracing over a signature can leave telltale hesitation marks and other signs of a forgery. Persons attempting to master handwriting forgery obtain as many samples of the victim’s handwriting as possible and use them to practice writing documents like the target. Some natural variation in signatures is present in most people, but it is difficult to develop a forged signature within the tolerances of the normal variation margin of a person’s handwriting.
People can use handwriting forgery in a number of ways once they have reliably copied someone’s signature and handwriting. One option is document alteration, where a document produced by the victim is modified in some way by the forger. Checks, for example, can be changed to larger amounts. People can also create new documents from scratch or put a forged signature on contracts and other documentation. By impersonating another person, people can attempt to modify wills and other documents, dispose of property, and engage in similar activities.
Signatures on legal documents tend to be carefully scrutinized to confirm their validity if there is any doubt as to the origin of the document. A handwriting forgery expert can be called in if the document looks trustworthy, but there are nagging concerns. The expert can study samples known to be produced in the target’s handwriting and compare them to the questionable document. Examining questionable documents may involve tools such as microscopy to magnify the document and gather as much information as possible.
Famous forgeries have been discovered throughout history, including forged notes and diaries. Sometimes it takes decades to unmask a forgery, while in other cases problems with the document are discovered right away; for example, a person who claims to be selling diaries written by a famous person might make the mistake of using a type of paper that was not available when that person was alive. The study of handwriting forgery is a topic of interest among law enforcement, historians and art experts, who may have reason to question the documents they come into contact with in the course of their work .
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
