With hundreds of thousands of passengers flying in and out of one of the world's busiest airports, Dubai passport control officers are armed with the digital know-how and cutting-edge technology to identify those using forged passports within seconds.
Every counter at the Dubai International Airports' immigration zone has an e-passport reader, called Retro Check, that allows officers from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) to carry out a quick check if they suspect foul play.
The scanners first verify security features on the passport, including watermarks, microprinting and coloured fibres.
It is then analysed by one of 30 experts at the Document Examination Centre at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 1, which is referred to as a “firewall” against fraudsters using fake travel documents.
During the first quarter of the year, Dubai officials caught 366 passengers using fake passports, a slight increase from 355 cases reported during the same period in last year.
A total of 443 cases have been referred to Dubai Public Prosecution for further action, Aqil Ahmad Al Najjar, consultant at GDRFA's Document Examination Centre, told The National.
These stats are only for departures, Mr Al Najjar said. Those caught attempting to enter the country on fake documents are sent back to face legal action in the country from which they flew, he added.
"The number of fake passport cases recorded at the arrival and transit areas are triple that of those recorded at the departure," he said.
He added that 1,232 fake IDs were identified after 16,127 documents were checked in 2023.
Security features
Every passport has 19 security features that can be checked to determine whether it is genuine or not, Mr Al Najjar said, and the centre uses UV rays to check for "other security features like florescent fibres or ink" that cannot be spotted with the retro checks.
"We also have a huge database of specimens of all passports in the world to crosscheck, if needed," he added.
DXB employs about 1,500 Emirati passport control officers across all terminals to handle entry and exit.
After a fake passport is detected by immigration officers, it is sent to a police station and then referred to the prosecution.
The next step involves the GDRFA's Examination Centre, which sends a report to Dubai Public Prosecution after conducting a detailed check.
Retro checks also take place at the Hatta land border.
Challenges of passport fraud
While spotting fake paper passports is not hard for officers, with the success rate at a high 80 per cent, bogus electronic documents are harder to identify.
Fraudsters often manipulate the electronic chip, making it tough for the officers but that is when "advanced technology" comes in handy, Mr Al Najjar added.
Some travellers also fall victim to gangs that sell passports for large amounts of money.
"There was one incident at the transit area when a family of five paid $10,000 each for European passports," he said.
"They were caught at the transit checkpoint and interrogation revealed that they believed they were genuine documents.
"The family was sent back to the country they flew in from."
However, not all passport investigations involve identity theft.
A traveller was recently stopped at DXB because she had undergone cosmetic surgery to change "her nose, chin and cheek" but "didn’t update her passport photograph".
"The passport was genuine but the photograph was slightly different," Mr Al Najjar said.
"The traveller had to show us evidence of the cosmetic surgery and we also double-checked her details with the consulate."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
