Philippines passport extension scam exposed in Dubai

The Philippine Consulate in Dubai warns Filipinos not to resort to fixers offering bogus passport extension lest they risk the danger of landing in jail since forging or tampering an official document is punishable under the UAE Law.
Consul general Paul Raymond Cortes said at a media briefing on Tuesday that they have received over the past two weeks at least two cases of passport bearing a fake stamp and a forged signature of a consular official.
Cortes said they learned of the second case of passport tampering on Monday after an employer called his office asking if they are still doing passport extension.
Cortes noted that since January 1, the Philippine consulate stopped extending passports (for another year) for the purpose of visa stamping and travel purposes, except for medical emergency or death in the family.
It was found out that the spouse of the passport holder asked the services of a fixer who was paid Dh 700 to stamp a fake extension.
Consul Ferdinand Flores, whose signature was forged on the passport, said: "obviously it was a scam because the cost of renewing a passport is just Dh240 and an emergency passport extension is just Dh 120. The signature was even stamped and not manually signed on the passport."
Deputy consul general Giovanni Palec said tampering the passport will not only nullify it but is also a criminal act. "We have received two cases so far and hopefully this (scam) is not widespread. we want to immediately nip it in the bud," Palec added.
Palec said the Philippines is one of the first countries in the world to implement an e-passport or biometric passport, a combined paper and electronic passport that contains all the information of the holder's name, date of birth, and other biographic information including a digital photograph of the holder.
Palec added extending the passport is not practical because "even if you extend it, once you pass through the immigration, it will still show that it has already expired.
"That's why we don't do extensions anymore and besides a new passport can now be issued in three weeks time," he added.
Dubai resident Rante Bautista confirmed to Khaleej Times that his aunt waited only three weeks to get her new passport and she did not resort to any fixer. The consulate is processing around 250 passport applications daily.
Palec said they will ask the assistance of the Dubai Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this scam. The consular officials will also send their specimen signatures to the immigration.
"We feel it's (forging) being done here in Dubai. We don't know if a syndicate is behind it or what but we know (those involved) are the fixers transacting outside the consular office," said Palec.
angel@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai