The Australian Passport Office takes pride in delivering a secure and safe passport program.
At times, some people try to abuse the program to:
- get a new identity
- get a passport for a child without the other parent’s consent
- forge a signature of another person on a passport application
- get information they're not entitled to from passport records
- report documents as lost or stolen when they're not
- use someone else's passport as identification
- avoid identifying every person with parental responsibility for a child.
We have measures in place to detect and prevent fraud. We also have a team of investigators who conduct criminal investigations into the most serious cases of passport fraud.
How we handle reports of suspected fraud
Our specialist investigators and intelligence officers assess every fraud allegation.
After you've made a report, a specialist officer may call you to find out more information.
Due to privacy, we generally can't tell you about the outcome of the investigation or the activities we carry out.
We may not take further action if we can't:
- find any indicators of fraud occurring
- identify the person suspected of fraud
- find evidence that the person has submitted false information.
Penalty for passport fraud
We may refer cases to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. This may lead to criminal charges, conviction and jail.
Passport fraud is a serious offence that carries a maximum jail term of 10 years' imprisonment.
Offenders have gone to prison for:
- obtaining a passport under a different identity to claim social security payments or hide their unlawful status in Australia
- creating or submitting false or misleading documents
- selling, damaging, altering or dishonestly obtaining an Australian travel document
- improperly using or possessing an Australian travel document, including giving their passport to someone else to use.
We can refuse a passport application if we suspect false information has been provided. Where we refuse an application, the application fee is not refundable.
Reporting passport fraud
If you think you’re a victim of passport fraud, or you think someone you know has committed passport fraud or intends to, you can:
- contact us
- submit an online fraud report(Opens in a new tab/window)
- call the Fraud Tip-off Line on: 02 6261 1041.
If you're overseas, contact your nearest Australian embassy or consulate(Opens in a new tab/window).
We'll treat your information in strict confidence.
If you're the victim of an identity crime, call IDCARE(Opens in a new tab/window) toll-free in Australia on 1800 595 160.