"A man in his 30s forged ID age to date a young girl"

Request after seeing counterfeit company ads online
Born in 1992 → Falsified to be 3 years younger, born in 1995

A man in his 30s was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial for creating a false resident registration card with a birth year three years later than his actual one. It is known that he committed the crime to date a younger woman.

This photo is for reference only and is not directly related to the article content.

According to the legal community on the 4th, Judge Park Seok-geun of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced Kim (32), who was indicted for forgery of a public document, to four months in prison with a one-year suspension on the 26th of last month.

In November 2022, Kim saw an advertisement for ID forgery posted by A on Facebook and requested a forged resident registration card through a Telegram chat room.

Kim sent A a photo of his actual resident registration card and an ID photo in the chat room, requesting that the birth year be changed from '92' to '95', and transferred 250,000 won as a forgery fee to A.

In response, A used a computer program at his home to create an image file of a resident registration card with Kim's photo, name, and address but with the birth year changed to '95', printed it with a card printer, and attached a hologram.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "The defendant committed the crime to date a woman," and took into account that Kim appeared to have destroyed the forged resident registration card after receiving it from A, that he admitted his wrongdoing and reflected on his crime, and that he was a first-time offender.

Under current law, acts of forging or altering various certificates, including resident registration cards, fall under the crime of 'forgery or alteration of public documents' and can be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years. Stealing someone else's ID card constitutes theft, and selling a found ID card can lead to charges such as embezzlement of lost property.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In December last year, a man was booked for forging an Airport Railroad security guard ID, stealing a security guard uniform and walkie-talkie, and impersonating a security guard at Hongdae Entrance Station on Line 2 for over a month. This man also committed fraud by promising acquaintances job placements and illegally entered the Airport Railroad train driver's cabin to film videos.

In 2016, a man in his 20s who caused a traffic accident in Cheongju tried to disguise his identity using a friend's ID card but was caught on the spot after fingerprint comparison during police investigation revealed he was a wanted person. The identity check showed that this man had nine outstanding warrants for fraud and signature forgery, and an arrest warrant had been issued. At the time, the police expressed astonishment, saying, "The photos were similar enough to almost deceive us."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that from December last year, the amended Resident Registration Act, which strengthens penalties for unauthorized use of another person's resident registration card photo, has been enforced. Until now, unauthorized use of resident registration card image files could not be punished under the resident registration card misuse crime, but from now on, if caught, offenders can face imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won.