10,000 passports issued to fraudsters

LONDON (Reuters) - An estimated 10,000 passports were issued to fraudulent applicants in the year to last September, the Home Office said on Wednesday as it launched a new initiative to reduce identity fraud.

Face-to-face interviews for new applicants, to be introduced in May, could have helped uncover two men convicted of terrorism-related offences who had managed to secure two false passports each, officials said.

One, a Moroccan, is serving an 18-year sentence for a bombing in Casablanca. The other man, Dhiren Barot, who also had seven British passports issued in his own identity, was jailed for at least 40 years last November for plotting to kill thousands with attacks in Britain and the United States.

Identity fraud often turns out to be the "tip of the iceberg" for individuals involved in more serious criminal activity, said James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS).

Most fraudulent applications are done remotely, either by post or through a third party. "People think they can get away with it," Hall said.

The requirement to attend an interview will apply to people aged 16 or over who have never had a passport before. This will mean about 600,000 interviews per year, roughly 10 percent of all applicants.

"We are currently one of only a few western nations that do not have a face-to-face element to the passport application process," Home Office minister Joan Ryan said in a statement.

"We know that this leads to fraudulent applications and that is why things are going to change this year, starting with first-time adult customers."

From 2009 personal appearances, for fingerprinting and in some cases interviews, will be required for all passport applicants, including those renewing existing passports.