Document Fraud in Russia Surges 338%: Smart Engines and INTELLECT Report

A Document Crisis: 338% in One Year

Smart Engines and law firm INTELLECT have completed their fourth annual report on document forgery in Russia, and the findings are alarming. In 2025, the number of crimes registered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Article 327 of the Russian Criminal Code grew 338% — from 397 to 1,739 cases. That's an absolute seven-year high.

The black-market economy for forged identity documents has reached a minimum estimate of 2.6 billion rubles. Total material damages established by courts amounted to 1.8 billion rubles, with average damages per case at 1.4 million rubles. But these figures reflect only direct losses. The real cost includes regulatory penalties, operational investigation expenses, and reputational damage to businesses. A successful identity swap using a forged passport can trigger a chain of illegal activity months or even years later.

Meanwhile, there's a worrying gap: the justice system hasn't kept pace with the explosive growth. The number of convictions in 2025 rose just 0.6% — to 10,942 people. Over seven years (2019–2025), the cumulative number of convictions exceeded 69,000. Analysts expect the surge in crimes to be reflected in conviction statistics in coming years.

Portrait of a Forger

The perpetrators fall into clear patterns. Exactly 50% of the 10,942 convicted were foreign nationals: 5,408 from CIS countries, 66 from other states, 12 stateless. Men committed 85.6% of the crimes (10,364 people), women 14.4% (1,578). The age peak was 25–39, accounting for 52.2% of cases. There were also minors (18 people, 0.2%) and retirees (144 people aged 60+).

By education level: 48.3% had completed general secondary education, 31.2% had vocational secondary education, 10.1% had higher education, and 10.4% had no secondary education. By place of residence: 60.2% were permanent residents of the location where the crime occurred, 38.2% had no permanent registration, 1.3% had no fixed abode, and 0.4% were refugees or displaced persons. Nearly all acted alone: 98.1% committed crimes solo (10,734 people), 1.9% in groups (208 people), and organized crime groups accounted for about 1% (2 people).

The Top Three Forged Documents

Three types of documents dominate court cases:

Driver's licenses (41%) — the most common forged document for several years running. Nearly one in two detected forgeries is a driver's license. The typical scheme: order online, submit a photo and personal data, pay via transfer, and receive the finished document by mail or courier. Court cases show prices ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 rubles.

Russian passports (16%) — allow someone to act on another person's behalf and gain access to loans, financial services, SIM cards, plane and train tickets. Less commonly, they're used to claim inheritance or to enter closed administrative-territorial zones (ZATOs).

CIS passports and residence permits (18%) — their share grew from 12% in 2024 to 18% in 2025, with detection up 41%. These are used in migration schemes: registering for migration records, obtaining residency, and securing documents for the right to stay and work. The methods are relatively crude — swapping or replacing the photo in a genuine document.

From Documents to Fake Identities: The Role of Generative AI

Fraudsters have evolved from forging individual documents to building entire fake identities. In complex schemes, passports, driver's licenses, Russian social insurance numbers (SNILS), and powers of attorney in fictitious or stolen names are used simultaneously — all to support a single cover story through multiple stages of verification.

Generative AI has become a powerful tool. Beyond classic image editing, fraudsters now use fully synthetic documents and generative replacement of text, photos, signatures, and seals. Face swap, morphing, and synthetic selfies are also being added to the mix.

One particularly predatory scheme involves mobile carriers. In one court case, fraudsters presented a forged passport to a mobile operator (where checks are laxer), obtained a SIM card, linked it to the victim's bank account, restored access to online banking, and stole 4.45 million rubles. Even when a bank doesn't lose money directly, it faces additional investigation and verification costs, along with regulatory and reputational risk. Modern document fraud demands a comprehensive approach from businesses: verifying document authenticity, confirming identity, and protecting personal data from leaks.