In the past decade, computers have become an integral part of most business operations. Using the technology of desktop publishing, which allows businesses to prepare professional looking documents on inexpensive personal computers, desktop forgers are able to duplicate many kinds of documents.

Using relatively inexpensive and widely available equipment, a forger can cheaply and easily duplicate passports, birth certificates, stock certificates, purchase orders, cash and credit card receipts, bank checks, and a wide range of other papers, all bearing the official logos or emblems of the original documents. Bills can be paid with bogus checks, shoplifters can offer forged receipts when returning stolen merchandise for refund, and con artists can use forged identification to open credit, charge cards, or bank accounts.

The Better Business Bureau suggests the following tips for businesses to help stop desktop forgers:

Use difficult to replicate emblems or other devices on company documents.

Use color on important documents. Although the new color copiers are making the forger's job easier, it is still harder to reproduce color than black and white.

Order nonstandard paper for your printing needs. Anticounterfeiting aids include specially treated paper that displays the word "VOID" when tampered with.

Consider using protective devices on your computer, such as security software that uses passwords to control access to information contained in a hard disk or antivirus devices designed to combat computer viruses. Usually the company that sells or leases your computer equipment can explain how passwords, security codes, and code-scrambling devices can help to control access to your system.

A company's most effective protection against computer crimes should begin with a willingness to investigate any and all questionable activities. If a company investigation turns up the appearance of possible criminal activity, the company's attorney, local police department, and local district attorney should be notified immediately.

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