Identity and Document Fraud

Offenses built around falsifying, stealing or misusing a person's identity or an official document that establishes identity, status or authority, rather than directly obtaining money or property through a false representation about a transaction. This group gathers identity theft in both its personal and business forms, forgery and the closely related offense of uttering a forged document, falsifying an official document such as a passport, visa or lien, falsely claiming a military honor, and offenses built around a fraudulent change of personal or marital status, including bigamy, polygamy and a sham marriage entered into for immigration advantage. It excludes counterfeiting a physical good or a currency note, which is a similar act of fraudulent imitation but aimed at a product or a banknote rather than at a person's own identity or status, and belongs under Counterfeiting and Product Fraud.