On 4 May, a 20 year-old male Singaporean came to ICA Building to apply for a replacement Identity Card (NRIC). He claimed that he has lost his NRIC and submitted a Statutory Declaration stating that he had dropped his NRIC as part of the replacement procedure.

2 After declaring the particulars of who he claimed he was, our officer entered the NRIC number to retrieve the personal particulars before proceeding with the actual registration. While capturing the live thumbprint of the young man, it was discovered that his thumbprint did not match the one that is stored in our database.

3 Sensing that the applicant was trying to impose as someone else, our alert officer immediately asked him to provide more information about who he claimed he was so as to carry out a thorough verification of his true identity.

4 A quick check against our database revealed that the 20 year-old man was trying to apply for a replacement NRIC under his younger brother's identity and his actual identity was determined immediately. The case has been referred to Police for further investigation.

5 As a form of security and identification, the capturing of a biometric identifier, in this case, the thumbprint on the NRIC, serves to ensure added security to prevent any person from trying to impersonate as the rightful holder of an NRIC. Under Cheating by Personation under Section 419 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, a person found guilty of the offence is liable to a maximum sentence of imprisonment of up to three years, or with fine, or with both.

END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
7 May 2004