Legal Definitions - forgery

Forgery is a serious crime that involves creating a false document, signature, or other item, or altering an existing one, with the specific intention of deceiving others for personal gain or to cause harm. The core elements of forgery are the act of making something appear genuine when it is not, and the deliberate intent to defraud or mislead.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of forgery:

• Imagine a person who is deeply in debt. They decide to create a fake check, carefully mimicking the design and signature of a legitimate bank account holder they know. They then attempt to cash this fraudulent check at a grocery store, hoping to obtain money that isn't rightfully theirs.

  This is forgery because the individual created a false financial instrument (the check) and intended to use it to deceive the store and the bank to gain money illegally.

• Consider a scenario where an employee, wanting to avoid a mandatory training session, fabricates a doctor's note stating they have a medical appointment. They use a computer to create a letterhead for a fictitious medical clinic and forge a doctor's signature, then submit it to their employer.

  This constitutes forgery because the employee created a false official document (the doctor's note) with the intent to deceive their employer and avoid a work obligation.

• Picture an art collector who discovers a painting by a famous artist. Realizing its potential value, they decide to add a false signature of the artist to a lesser-known, unsigned work in their possession, hoping to sell it at a much higher price by falsely claiming it is an authenticated piece by the renowned painter.

  This is an act of forgery because the collector altered an item (the painting) by adding a false signature with the clear intent to deceive potential buyers and gain financially from the misrepresentation.