Course overview
Document fraud can enable payment diversion, false identity claims, procurement abuse, trade-based fraud and concealment of misconduct. A convincing document may contain only minor anomalies: an altered payee field, substituted passport photograph, copied signature, inconsistent PDF metadata or an invoice issued by a fictitious supplier. Staff responsible for review, investigation or approval need a disciplined way to identify warning signs, preserve evidence and decide when specialist examination is required.
This course develops practical forgery detection skills for paper, identity, financial and digital documents. Participants examine paper, inks, printing methods, handwriting, signatures, security features, PDFs, images and transaction records. They apply questioned-document examination principles, assess document provenance, maintain chain of custody and distinguish factual observations from conclusions that exceed the available evidence. The course also addresses cheque, invoice, bank-statement, trade-document and identity-document fraud.
Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with case analysis, document comparison tasks, group investigation work, evidence-handling simulations and reporting practice. Participants work through realistic cases involving altered payment instructions, forged approvals, counterfeit identity documents and manipulated electronic records. They leave with a document fraud examination toolkit containing triage, evidence, comparison, reporting and control-improvement materials that can be adapted to their own procedures.
The course is particularly suitable for fraud investigators, internal auditors, compliance teams, financial crime staff, security personnel and managers who approve or rely on high-risk documents. It is designed for professionals who need to make sound first-line assessments, commission specialist support appropriately and communicate findings clearly to management, legal advisers or investigative teams.
