false papers
Fraudulent identity documents
False papers are forged or fraudulent identity documents—passports, visas, birth certificates, work permits—used to conceal one's true identity or status.
The term evokes wartime escape narratives and refugee flight: They crossed the border on false papers.
Someone "traveling on false papers" may be fleeing persecution, evading authorities, or assuming a new identity entirely.
- forgedMade by smithing, or faked
- counterfeitFraudulent imitation
- fakeNot the real thing
- identityWho someone is
- assumed identityFabricated personal guise
passport · documents · smuggled · underground · safe house · refugee · escape · border · border crossing · checkpoint · alias · cover story · identity theft · fugitive · clandestine · resistance · wartime · secret police
- espionagespy, spies, double agent, double agents, spying
- false identitiesassumed identity, alias, assumed name, pseudonym, fake ID
- impostureimpostor, impersonation, imposture, pretender, personation
- smugglingcontraband, smugglers, human smuggling, smuggling rings, people smuggling
- gunrunningarms dealers, smugglers, trafficking routes, weapons caches, contraband
false, falsely, falseness, falsity, falsify, falsification, falsified, falsifier, paper