A fake passport is a passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

 (or another travel document

Travel document

A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international treaty organization to facilitate the movement of individuals or small groups of persons across international boundaries...

) issued by governing bodies and then copied and/or modified by persons not authorized to create such documents or engage in such modifications, for the purpose of deceiving those who would view the documents about the identity or status of the bearer. The term also encompasses the activity of acquiring passports from governing bodies by falsifying the required supporting documentation in order to create the desired identity.

Such falsified passports can be used for escape into exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

, identity theft

Identity theft

Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...

, age deception

Deception

Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...

, illegal immigration

Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...

, and organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

.

In comparison, a camouflage passport

Camouflage passport

A camouflage passport is a passport issued in the name of a non-existent country that is intended to look like a real country’s passport.Such passports are also often sold with several matching documents, including an international driver’s license and similar supporting identity papers.Camouflage...

 is an item that was never originally 'real' and then modified, instead it is manufactured to be fake initially. Finally, fantasy passports, as produced by United Passports, are simply novelty items that are meant to be souvenirs and are not intended to trick customs officials.

Incidents

In June 2005, American actor Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes

Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...

 was detained in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 at Johannesburg International Airport

Johannesburg International Airport

OR Tambo International Airport is a large airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa, near the city of Johannesburg. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa's busiest airport with a capacity handle up to 28,000,000...

 for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport.

In May 2001 Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-nam , is the eldest son of Kim Jong-Il, ruler of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. From roughly 1998 to 2001, he was widely considered to be the heir-apparent to his father and the next leader of North Korea...

 (the eldest son of the leader of North Korea) was arrested on arrival at New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport

Narita International Airport

is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located east of Tokyo Station and east-southeast of Narita Station in the city of Narita, and the adjacent town of Shibayama....

), accompanied by two women and a four-year old boy identified as his son. He was traveling on a forged Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 passport using a Chinese alias, Pang Xiong.

Alexander Solonik

Alexander Solonik

Alexander Viktorovich Solonik , also known as Sasha the Macedonian,A reference to Alexander the Great and Solonik's Greek descent and ability to shoot handguns from both hands, in Russian called a Macedonian shooting and Superkiller, was an infamous Russian hitman in the early 1990s and was...

 (Russian hitman in the early 1990s) lived in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 with a fake passport, which he had obtained from the Greek consulate in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...

 (high-ranking Nazi often referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust"), after the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 traveled to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 using a fraudulently obtained laissez-passer issued by the International Red Cross and lived there under a false identity.

In October, 2000 Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....

 (Russian dissident

Dissident

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....

 and writer) fled to Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 from Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 on a forged passport

Identity document forgery

Identity document forgery is the process by which identity documents issued by governing bodies are copied and/or modified by persons not authorized to create such documents or engage in such modifications, for the purpose of deceiving those who would view the documents about the identity or status...

using the alias Chris Reid, as his actual passport was confiscated by Russian authorities after criminal charges were filed against him.