Forgery of a signature - corpus delicti and liability

Forging a signature is, in principle, not prohibited by law under threat of punishment. Counterfeiting becomes a crime when several circumstances are taken into account:

• where this signature was forged (in which document),
• for what purpose this document was produced;
• who made the false signature;
• what consequences occurred after falsification.

After studying these points, the crime can be classified under several articles and the perpetrator will bear criminal liability for forging signatures on documents.

Evidence of a crime

Important! Please keep in mind that:

• Each case is unique and individual.
• A thorough study of the issue does not always guarantee a positive outcome. It depends on many factors.

To get the most detailed advice on your issue, you just need to choose any of the options offered:

• Use the online chat in the lower corner of the screen.
• Call: Federal number: +7 (800) 511-86-74

Responsibility for forging a signature is provided for in Article 327. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This article contains information regarding the determination of penalties for persons who have committed: forgery of signatures on documents, production or sale of fictitious documents, imitation of awards, forms, stamps or seals.

Today is 327 Art. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with commentaries has two compositions, according to which responsibility for forgery of a signature is divided into the forgery itself and the sale of forged documents.

Confirmation of the crime is considered both in written and material form. Moreover, if we are talking about forging a signature in an agreement, the agreement itself will be considered as material evidence, because In court, it is the material properties of the document that will be of interest. In the event of a forgery of the contract itself, or part of it, this document will be considered as written evidence, namely the information contained in it.

What to do if an electronic signature has been issued in your name

Unfortunately, people find out that they issued an electronic signature without anyone’s knowledge after committing illegal actions. The company has lost money, a clarifying declaration has been submitted, the apartment has been sold, or a loan has been received for someone. Or, people suddenly find out that they are founders of several companies. And at the same time directors.

However, there is a way to proactively monitor such information.

• On the State Services website, in your personal account, you can find out which certification center and which electronic signatures were issued in your name.
• If you see that there are signatures that you yourself did not receive, and generally see them for the first time, contact the portal’s technical support and the CA itself.
• Upon your application, the CA is obliged to revoke the electronic signature certificate.
• If the CA does not do this for some reason, contact the police.
• It is worth contacting the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications with a complaint against the CA if it does not assist you.

If a company has been registered in your name, you should submit an application to the tax register at your place of residence in form P38001 with a request to recognize the information about you as a founder and director as unreliable.

Rules of law

As a rule, illegally signing papers is only part of the crime. Therefore, below we will provide a list of articles related to this fact.

Comments on Art. 327 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The object of the crime is the method of production and sale established by law: papers of an approved sample, stamps and state awards, as well as forms and seals. The subject of the offense is:

• Official or personal documents that allow you to obtain additional rights or avoid obligations of both legal entities and individuals.
• Fake government insignia, gratitude.

In this case, a personal official document is accepted as identification. It contains complete or partial information about the owner. This could be demographic, social, or job-related data. The concept of another official document refers to papers of an approved sample that allow the use of additional benefits or relieve one from any obligations that have been analyzed.

If examined, a counterfeit document will be one that, in the process of certain actions, began to bear the external and qualitative characteristics of the original. Not only the production itself, but also the use for any purpose of a false document will also be considered a crime.

The use of counterfeit papers will be considered to be presented to officials or private individuals to carry out fraudulent activities or to conceal the fact of a crime. The end of the crime in this case will be the moment of production, sale or presentation of false papers or documents containing fictitious information. A person who has reached the age of 16 and has passed a sanity examination will be considered a person who has committed a crime. If it is implied that the person only produced these papers, or is an authorized person, the crime is considered under Articles 327, Part 3 and 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The corpus delicti in this case is characterized by the established fact of an attempt to use false documents.

Types of fakes

In the modern world, there are two types of signature forgery - manual and technical. Let's look at these issues in more detail, as there are a lot of subtleties.

Manual signature falsification

Due to the development of technology, it is becoming easier for modern criminals to commit crimes every day. Manual signatures are especially often forged, since the process does not require the use of specialized equipment. The manual method of forging a signature includes three types of falsification:

• The first method is the simplest and therefore known to everyone. This is a forgery of a handwritten signature. This requires some talent, because... This method involves restoring from memory or using the original manually. Almost everyone during their school days tried to forge teachers' signatures in their diaries. There are people who have developed this talent and use it illegally. It is usually easy to detect such fraud. As a last resort, an examination of the handwriting is carried out. The analysis requires an experienced professional, an original (usually 10 examples) and paper to be checked. In this case, documents where the signature was affixed with too much time difference are not subject to verification, because with age a person’s handwriting changes and it is more difficult to establish identity.
• The next method is one in which additional improvised means are used during counterfeiting. One of these tools is carbon paper, which is freely available in almost every office supply store. It is believed that such means allow one to achieve better quality during the falsification process.
• The third method involves the use of computer programs and a conventional laser printer. Scanned signatures are restored using a printer on paper. This type of counterfeit is more advanced and requires examination using modern equipment to identify the forgery.

Technical forgery of signature

Technical forgery of a signature is considered to be those methods of falsification that use computer technology, special equipment, or simply improvised means. The difference between a technical forgery and a manual one is that the forgery is not produced by handwriting, but by copying the signature from the original. The most commonly used types of technical counterfeiting are:

• Redrawing the signature in pencil and then tracing the strokes with ink. Typically, a soft pencil is used in this case. It is thanks to him that falsification is detected - coloring pigments remain on the paper.
• Imitation of a signature using special paper, exposed to light or by pressing, followed by tracing the contours with ink.
• A method of forging a signature using substances that have copying properties. In this case, various emulsions, films, photographic paper and even egg white can be used.
• Forgery using an electrographic apparatus. Today this is the most popular way to forge a signature. It is distinguished by the shine of the ink, the absence of relief and flaking of the dye.
• A less popular, but used method is falsification using printers. As a rule, in this case an inkjet or laser printer is used. Dot matrix printers are least suitable for these purposes. This type of forgery is also distinguished by its lack of relief; in addition, tiny drops of toner can be distinguished. It is easy to distinguish such a fake from the original - if water gets in, the outline of the signature will blur.
• Forgery using a printed form - facsimile. This method is the most difficult to determine, because... in this case, the fake will be most similar to the original. A distinctive feature will be the absence of grooves left by writing instruments.

Signs of forgery of a signature or parts of a document

In order to register the fact of signature forgery, it is necessary to identify the signs. They will differ for different methods of producing a forged document, but there are basic, common characteristics:

• The presence of paired lines, the sharpness of rounded strokes, traces of preparation. Such signs indicate that the signature was copied from the original.
• The presence of unnatural thickenings, blunt ends of lines, excessive tortuosity. These characteristics characterize the copying method of counterfeiting using glass.
• If you copy using special paper, the document will show pigment marks and poor line alignment. This sign is easy to detect - all you need is a magnifying glass and good lighting, or an infrared lamp.
• When falsifying a signature using materials with increased copying ability, emulsion particles can be found on the paper. There will also be no relief. Upon closer examination, you can see that the tinting of the signature is uneven, and small splashes of paint will be found next to the signature.

Features of bringing to responsibility

In order to bring the perpetrators to justice, it is necessary to have a falsified document and a professional expert’s opinion confirming the fact of forgery. It is necessary to have papers with a fictitious signature on hand, because they will serve as physical evidence. However, criminal prosecution for signature forgery has a number of features:

• Nowadays, no one will be surprised by forging the director’s signature at work. There are emergency moments in which the person committing this act does not have selfish goals. But in order to avoid punishment for forging a signature, it is still better to obtain written permission from management. If there is none, then an overly proactive employee may be fired for exceeding his authority.
• The situation is different - the employer falsifies the employee’s signature. Forging a signature on a payroll slip is the most common example. Thanks to such forgery, the entrepreneur may not pay the employee wages. If this fact is discovered, you must immediately file a claim in court.
• Forgery of signatures in sales contracts is also common today. If falsification is detected, such a document loses its validity, and the fraudster will be held responsible for forging the signature.
• Forging a signature in the minutes of a general meeting today also involves punishment, because For some time now, this document has been considered official. In this case, the most difficult thing will be to find the culprit of the forgery.
• Article 327 also provides for punishment for forging signatures on documents. The punishment in this case is determined by the court and depends on the severity of the crime.
• Forging a signature on the acceptance certificate may result in the contractor not receiving money for the work performed. In this case, a common mistake could have occurred - some employee signed the act for management. In any case, only examination and trial can help here.
• For violators, forging a signature in court may turn out to be a more serious crime than expected. The fact is that in this case Art. 303 also comes into force. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which considers facts of falsification of evidence and the results of operational investigative activities.

Criminal liability for signature forgery

How can a criminal case of forgery of a signature turn out? Today, forgery of signatures on documents can result in either monetary or more serious punishment, up to and including imprisonment. These cases are few, but they are worth knowing:

• In the case when a criminal case is initiated under Art. 327, the fact of falsification of documents will be considered, thanks to which a person was able to enjoy rights not due to him or to be freed from unwanted responsibilities. Punishment in such a criminal case can be imposed as a restriction or imprisonment for up to 2 years.
• When the falsification was made to conceal another crime or facilitate its commission, the responsibility will be more serious - the offender will have to spend time either doing compulsory labor for 4 years or in prison for the same period.
• If a criminal case is opened against a person who uses a deliberately forged document, but does not produce it, the punishment will be more lenient. In this case, you can get by with a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles, or disciplinary work for up to 2 years. Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also implies in this case the possibility of arrest. But today there are no arrest houses left in Russia. Therefore, since 1996, the practice of arrest has not been applied.

If the violation concerned the forgery of stamps or signatures on medicine papers, for a single case this means imprisonment for up to 3 years. If an organized group participated in the crime, the imprisonment may be extended. The minimum period for this example will be 5, and the maximum will be 10 years.

Please also note that criminal prosecution threatens both the manufacturer and the person who used the counterfeit papers.

Checklist for safe use of electronic signature

In order to protect yourself from fraudulent activities with electronic signatures, you must follow the following rules:

• Do not share the electronic signature key with anyone. It is very difficult to prove that it was not the owner, but someone else who signed the document. If it is transferred, it is necessary either by power of attorney or by order to determine the powers that the trustee has. And take corporate security measures, including monitoring systems for employee actions.
• If an employee for whom an electronic signature was issued is dismissed, the certificate must be immediately revoked. The HR department needs to maintain a register of employees who have an electronic signature and a list of their powers.
• There is an option with a double electronic signature, when one without the other is invalid . For example, two signatures can be used to certify payment orders at a bank; usually the general director and chief accountant have an electronic signature for this.
• Of course, you need a system to protect access to the computer on which the software for using an electronic signature is installed. Cloud solutions can help a lot when offices have only “thin clients” (computers without media, terminals for accessing the “cloud”).
• Do not leave the computer unlocked , set passwords and logins both for logging into the system and for accessing accounting programs, client banks, etc.
• A computer with an electronic signature must also be protected from virtual hacking . An employee working with electronic signatures must be instructed regarding spam, suspicious emails, obscure sites, phishing links, etc. Be sure to use an antivirus and check third-party media for malware.
• Do not give scans or copies of your passport or SNILS to anyone, do not leave them on websites, do not forward them. Attackers need this data to issue an electronic signature and use it for malicious purposes. Moreover, you may unexpectedly become the owner of a large loan, or the funds you have accumulated in the NPF will flow into another fund. These types of scams are talked about both on the Internet and on TV, but people continue to share their personal data.

It is recommended for company employees to draw up a reminder about what actions cannot be performed under any circumstances, develop regulations for working with personal data, and appoint persons responsible for their transfer.

When there is no liability for forging a signature

A crime is considered to be the case when a document is official, has legal force and releases from any obligations or provides additional benefits. Otherwise, counterfeiting is not considered the subject of a crime.

In addition, let us turn to Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It says that although there are signs of a violation, an act or inaction of a person is not considered a crime if it does not cause harm to others.

Bykov Boris Nikolaevich

Lawyer at the Legal Defense Board. Candidate of Legal Sciences. Work experience in the field of criminal law - 14 years. Defense in court, full case management, preparation of documents.

What is the state doing to protect electronic signatures?

As mentioned above, starting from 2022, the Federal Tax Service will take back the right to issue an electronic signature to the heads of commercial organizations. In this way, the tax service will form its own database of what it issued and to whom, and at the same time stop the flow of illegally issued electronic signatures for nominal managers.

There is still a lot of time until 2022, but you can protect yourself now.

Currently, the Federal Tax Service already allows an individual to issue an electronic signature through a personal account. Since you can register in your personal account only after a personal visit to the inspectorate, here, according to the Federal Tax Service, the likelihood of a data leak is minimal. Unless, of course, the individual himself gives access to an outsider.

It is also possible to obtain an electronic signature through the State Services website. You can apply for an electronic signature through the MFC with a passport and SNILS, the service is free. This signature allows access to the full list of services of the State Services portal.

In addition, the state regularly checks existing certification centers and closes those with violations. Control over CAs is constantly growing, requirements for them are increasing, in particular for the size of their authorized capital.