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.
Criminal Code on signature forgery
The code does not mention a forged signature, but does include Article 327, which establishes liability for forging an official document with the intent to use or sell it.
A person can only be held responsible for this crime in the following cases:
- signatures were forged on official documents.
- These papers provide a person with certain rights or relieve him of responsibilities.
- the person sold these documents or tried to use them for their intended purpose.
That is, if the document was made just like that, it was not used or transferred to another person, then the craftsman will not be held responsible for its falsification. For example, if a citizen was detained and a forged official document was discovered during a personal search, his actions cannot be defined as criminal; there are no signs of a crime
The purpose of producing a fake official document is a decisive circumstance on which it depends whether a person can be convicted under the designated article.
The maximum sentence for signature forgery is 2 years in prison. This defines the crime as a crime of minor gravity, and the person who committed it for the first time cannot incur this punishment according to the rules established in Article 56 of the Criminal Code. Therefore, the only punishment facing the falsifier, given that forced labor and arrest are not yet applied in our country, is established in the form of restriction of freedom for up to two years. It consists of a ban on changing your place of residence without the consent of the criminal-executive inspection, a ban on crossing the borders of a certain municipality, and an obligation not to leave your home at a certain time of the day, usually from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m.
A special device is installed on the convict’s leg that tracks his movements; such a “bracelet” cannot be removed or damaged, as this may lead to the authority going to court to change the sentence to imprisonment.
In addition, the convicted person will be required to appear several times (more often - 1) for registration at the specified executive body.
To understand what actions for forging a seal and signature will result in criminal liability, you need to understand the concept of an official document
Official document and its features
So what is an official document? There is no clear concept of this document, which would be written down in the law, but the Supreme Court, due to problems in the classification of crimes related to official documents by courts, indicated its characteristics in Plenum Resolution No. 24 of July 9, 2013.
The specified document must have the following characteristics:
- Formality.
It means that the document is related to the office work of government bodies and officials. It must be issued by a state or municipal body, as well as their employees. In case of falsification of such a document, harm will be caused to the sphere of management, since the person who presented it will illegally receive rights or will be relieved of duties, which is unacceptable.
- Certifying value.
If the document contains only information, then it will not be the subject of criminal liability, although it may be official. Papers should not only contain official information, but also give rise to certain consequences when used.
- Granting rights.
Those facts that are contained in the documents must give or take away any rights or allow one to escape from responsibilities, then forging a signature in such papers will be a criminal offense.
To bring an attacker to justice, it is necessary that a false document have all three signs at once; only then can it be considered official and be the subject of a criminal attack.
For example, a forged signature of the director of a commercial company made in a payment order or in an order for the payment of a bonus is not subject to liability under Article 327 of the Criminal Code. This falsification of a signature will be determined by the court as a method of committing misappropriation or theft of money from an organization; it does not require independent qualification. And if a citizen tries to receive an insurance payment for a “fake” accident and presents to the insurance company a forged certificate and a traffic police report with a false signature of the chief, then in addition to attempted fraud, he will be held liable for forging an official document granting rights for the purpose of using it.
In addition to state (municipal) bodies and their officials, official documents that are the subject of Article 327 are issued by institutions.
The subject of the crime may be a certificate issued by a medical institution, upon presentation of which the traffic police becomes entitled to obtain a driver’s license or extend its validity.
Thus, by the Lenin Court of the city of Tyumen, citizen G. was convicted under part one of Article 327 of the Criminal Code for presenting to the traffic police a medical certificate with a forged signature of the chief physician of one of the city clinics. The defendant was found guilty and the court sentenced him to restriction of freedom for a period of 6 months.
Implementation of plans
If such an insidious plan has matured in the head of a university student, it is important to understand that a lot of effort will have to be made to implement it, while not spreading too much among the masses. Here's what you need to consider:
1. Rehearse the teacher’s signature so that he himself ultimately cannot distinguish it from the original.
2. Choose a good moment for counterfeiting, once again make sure that the decision made is correct.
3. Hide temporarily so that the strict teacher does not remember about his debtor, of which there are many on the stream.
4. Carefully pass off your fake as a teacher’s original, without drawing special attention to your own person.
5. Be clearly aware of which teacher this trick will work with, and which one may cause serious problems during further studies.
To increase your own chances of success, you need to thoroughly repeat the teacher’s signature, otherwise the deception will be exposed by a more detailed study of the autograph. If a student does not have artistic talent, it is better to contact him “at the right place” and not spoil his grade book with dubious squiggles. But when you get a believable autograph, you can also argue.
Special formulations
In addition to Article 327, the criminal code identifies several crimes that provide punishment for forging signatures in official documents, but they pose a higher level of public danger, since the consequences of falsifying some of them entail serious infringement of the rights and freedoms of citizens and cause serious harm to the authority of the state authorities.
These circumstances became the reason for separating these acts into separate offenses, for the commission of which a more severe punishment is provided.
1. Electoral documents enable citizens of our country to exercise their political rights, elect their representatives to power and be elected themselves, therefore their falsification entails a significant violation of constitutional rights and creates distrust in the current government among voters and candidates. Falsification of these papers (protocols and ballots) is a separate offense provided for in Article 142 of the Criminal Code. The punishment for this crime ranges from 3 years to 4 years (if committed by a member of the election commission) of imprisonment. Accordingly, the category of crime has been increased to medium gravity, which means that real punishment can be imposed.
2. Officials have access to official documents, so they have special responsibility for their safety. Official forgery is identified as a separate element as a method of falsifying an official document, and responsibility for it is described in Article 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Crimes against the service are dangerous because due to the fault of officials, innocent people may suffer or the victims will not have access to fair justice, and this undermines the authority of the state and violates the rights of people. This could be forgery of procedural documents and materials from the prosecutor's office. Punishment for this composition is provided in the range from 2 to 4 years of imprisonment. In addition, the culprit, if his actions significantly damaged the rights of the victim, will be prohibited from holding positions in the service for a period of up to 3 years.
As you can see, these individual types of document forgery provide for a more severe punishment than for forgery of signatures under Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and this is fair, given the nature and degree of danger of these acts for society.
You can also especially highlight the forgery of a document that identifies a person, although this element is in Article 327 itself, it is separated into a separate part, since it poses a great danger due to its specifics. It also carries a higher penalty, up to 3 years in prison.
Electronic signature forgery
In modern conditions, electronic signatures are ubiquitous and are used, among other things, on official documents, for example, in the electronic form of various certificates for the right to receive funds and other documents. And where there is money, there are scammers who use modern technologies to forge an electronic signature.
As stated in the federal law “On Electronic Signatures”, for jurisprudence there is no difference between a simple signature on paper and a digital one. A document signed traditionally has the same legal force as one signed electronically.
Under such conditions, it is possible to continue the legislator’s thought and indicate that a person who has forged an official document with an electronic signature bears responsibility on an equal basis with a traditional forger; he is subject to the same extent of Article 327 and other special elements of criminal law.
The only difference in this case may be the method of proving the crime committed. Instead of a traditional handwriting examination with signature and handwriting samples, a computer examination of signature forgery will be carried out; Otherwise, the evidence base will not change.
Features of the crime
Criminals use various methods of forging signatures to certify a particular document. The motive of this crime is to obtain benefits, which this document will contribute to.
This crime involves imitating the signature of an official or another citizen in a document that is directly related to him. Forgery of a signature is carried out in two ways:
- imitate handwriting;
- copy the original using specialized equipment.
Qualification Rules
It should be noted how cases of signature falsification will be qualified in ambiguous situations and exceptional cases.
1. As a general rule, forgery of contracts will not be prosecuted by law, since these papers do not fall into the records of state or municipal bodies. However, this rule does not apply to contracts for which state registration is a mandatory procedure. Therefore, we can definitely say that forgery of a signature in a real estate purchase and sale agreement is punishable by criminal liability under Article 327. The specified agreement falls into the records of Rosreestr during state registration and begins to be an agreement only from the moment of such registration.
2. Until recently, criminal cases were not initiated for forging signatures in the minutes of a general meeting, but the situation has changed with the adoption of amendments to Art. 46 of the Housing Code, which clearly defines the designated document as official. This became possible due to the fact that a mandatory procedure has appeared for sending this protocol to the State Housing Supervision Authority, where it is subject to mandatory registration, thereby falling into the records of the state body.
3. Forging a signature on a statement of claim to the court will not entail criminal liability, since the statement does not give anyone rights and does not relieve anyone of responsibilities. Procedural rights are not material; they are vested in fact, by a judge, and not by a statement of claim. It gets into the office work insofar as it is stored in a civil case, which is opened by a ruling on the acceptance of the case for proceedings. This paper is not issued by a body or official, so it does not have the characteristics of an official document. There will be no criminal liability for signing for another person in a statement of claim, since there is no evidence there. The only consequence of forging a signature is leaving it without consideration or (if a decision is made) declaring the decision illegal, since the real plaintiff did not go to court.
If the actions of a person who has committed any act involve the forgery of a signature in an official document, then he is subject to criminal liability in the aggregate, together with Article 327. If the criminal committed fraud and used a forged document, but it is not possible to prove that it was he who produced it, then his actions are subject to qualification only for fraud; Article 327 cannot be applied in this situation, as the Plenum of the Supreme Court says. In case of competition between the specified article and a special composition, the latter of them is applied; no additional qualifications are required.
Punishment under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
Forgery of a signature is punishable under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in two cases:
- If the offense is committed by a legal entity, since the organization cannot be held criminally liable. In this case, the court takes into account Article 19.23 of the Administrative Code, which provides for a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles and confiscation of property with which illegal actions were committed.
- If there is a forged signature in the documents of the election campaign, but this did not entail serious consequences and was not carried out using threats and bribery. Article 5.46 provides for liability in the form of a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles.
Administrative liability does not provide for other penalties.
