I've accumulated around 300 fake passports so far and about as many other various fake documents and photos as well. I just didn't have the heart to throw them away, so here are some real gems for your enjoyment.

Ok boys and girls, how many different passport designs can you count for the country of Nigeria?

I especially admire the barcode on this one:

It seems that they just couldn't agree on what color scheme to use with the previous design, so the country decided to scrap it altogether and try something else:

This is actually what a Nigerian passport is supposed to look like:

Ok, even Helen Keller wouldn't have fallen for this passport when everything is blurry beyond recognition, except for all the fake info which is sharp as a tack:

Who needs Photoshop when you too can create this equally authentic American passport right in MS Paint?!

Here's what it's supposed to look like:

Can you spot the fake text in the passport below?

With digital compositing skills such as these going to such waste, I think the talent scouts at Industrial Light & Magic need to be combing Nigeria for new talent:

Another one of those selective sharpness passports, this time from the Ivory Coast:

This printing problem appears to be a global problem, here's one from the UK:

To cut costs in the Philippines, they just get some poor old lady with severe arthritis to write them out by hand:

Check it out - The son of Charles Taylor (the former president of Liberia) is actually a NASA astronaut!! This is none other than Lieutenant Colonel Michael P. Anderson, who sadly perished along with six fellow crew members when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry February 1, 2003.

"Mugu" is a word in nigerian pidgin english for a great fool, and what they refer to potential victims of their scams with, as well as "maga" and "mgbada". Mugu has also been adapted by scambaiters as a term for the scammers. Every once in awhile I see a scammer use the word as their name for fun, but this is the only passport I've come across with it:

Ok, I'm confused... it's actually a USSR passport, but the year of issue is 2000. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist in 1991 when many of the republics within the union declared independence.

It may be a common racial slur to say that people of a race all look alike, but these scammers literally do look alike! I have many more matching sets like this:

Don't you just hate it when you're getting your photo ID picture taken and they make you look into the sun!

Would it really be too much trouble to spend the five minutes it takes to look up names of ministries that actually exist in Nigeria on their government's website?? I didn't thinks so, and that's how I quickly found out that there isn't even a Ministry of Energy, let alone a Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, not to mention that none of the ministries have any kind of stylized acronym logo. There is at least a Ministry of Solid Minerals. However, I do like the truck very much. I'm not sure what the purpose of the tiny duplicate photo in the bottom right hand corner is for though.

It seems this second tiny photo is some kind of ID counterfeit deterrent:

In China, they take this security measure a step further that's sure to make anyone think twice about counterfeiting this ID card - the secondary photo is black & white!

Here's some typical documents that are often passed onto you. This poor bastard died of an "autobile" accident. Sounds pretty nasty - I think that's a case of heart burn so severe that you actually choke to death on your own bile!

I like how this creative financial institute in the UK uses an american one dollar bill for the background of it's deposit certificate. Looks like this one's a Scratch n' Win too!!:

Mugu Rule #2, (b) making fake documents: when in doubt, use George Washington! This time he's part of a letterhead for a law firm in Ghana. Out of curiousity, I quickly found the actual clip art that was used for this at CoolCLIPS.com:

Ah yes, nothing says authenticity with an important document like having postage stamps stuck all over it! I get a certain satisfaction from seeing a mugu take the time to print the word "scambaiter" into one of their fake documents:

Did somebody let a really nasty fart go in the car, causing this guy to crash??

Of course, what good is a security company deposit slip of the trunks being held without an actual pic of them cracked open and showing off the dough!

The two pics below are by far the most heavily used:

Ok, this incredibly stupid prick sent the above picture to me, which by itself would've been really good. But I guess he thought he'd get me even more excited by adding the two pics below along with it. Stock photography with the name of the stock photography company surrounding it, complete with copyright symbol and photo credit (I guess Wernher Krutein works at the security company??), as well as the company name watermarked all over the photos themselves! And as if all this cash alone weren't enough to get me all excited about the deal, it looks like I'm getting a free gun too!

I guess they really had to move this cash out of the country in a hurry - no time for those silly little bundles!

Cotton is clearly the packing material of choice in West Africa when shipping insane amounts of cash. No cheap fucking styrofoam peaunuts here, only the good stuff will do!

Ever wanted to find out what one of these money trunks would look like if you had x-ray vision? Well now you can thanks to this "scan report" from the Dubai International Airport! BTW, there's no such thing as "cartomographic". The closest thing to that would be cartographic - the art of map making. This image does resemble a relief map a lot more than it does a stack of cash.

Christ, will all that dough you'd think this prick could afford a pair of shoes to go with that nice suit!

And if that's not enough to give you a hard-on a dog couldn't chew, then seeing the cash in motion along with some audio of the sweet sound of crisp $100 bills flipping will have definitely have you running to the nearest Western Union to pay the demurrage fee faster than you can say "Usman Bello"!

I guess when Mariama got the above deposit certificate made, she asked if they could bang off a few 8 X 10's of the photo for the family as well:

They often send personal photos to make themselves more personable, making you more comfortable and trusting. Here's a selection of some that I've gotten:

Now if Sofia's photo above with her dear Mom (which one's supposed to be the mother anyway??) just before her illness wasn't enough to make everything seem alright, then surely the pic below of her at one year of age will win you over!

Even Mariam Abacha (wife of the late General Sanni Abacha, former Nigerian head of state) "deserves a break today", and it looks like she's "lovin' it" too!

Mrs. Divine was considerate enough to include a detailed photo of her stoma wound when she approached me for assistance:

And here we have Maryam:

And this is Kone:

Check out Matilde:

And this is Stella. Hey, wait a minute...

It seems that attractive young women make up the majority of personal photos sent:

A couple for the ladies:

"Goddamnit Nweke, I thought I told you to leave that bling shit at home for this shoot! No one's going to believe you're the son of Charles Taylor with that fucking pimp jewlery on!"

"Ok, that's more like it now..."

Now if this isn't a face you can trust, then I don't know what is:

Nkem Owoh, also known as "Osuofia", is Nigeria's most popular comedic actor. He released a song "I Go Chop Your Dollar" (loosely translated to, "I'm going to scam your money") in 2005 that became a big hit there. The song supports a movie he appears in, "The Master", both of which are about the whole 419 scam scene. The music video and lyrics can be seen here. It seems they couldn't even get a white guy to play the western victim (Oyinbo man).

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