Traced Forgery
Definition
Forgery produced by tracing over a genuine signature placed under thin paper or on a light box. Outline matches genuine too closely, line quality is poor, indented outlines may be present.
- Method
- Tracing over a genuine signature via thin paper or light box
- Tell 1
- Outline matches a genuine specimen too precisely
- Tell 2
- Poor line quality, tremor
- Tell 3
- Indented guide outline may be visible
Common questions
Why does a traced forgery match the genuine outline too closely?+
Genuine signatures naturally vary between repetitions from the same writer. An unnaturally exact outline match to one specific specimen signals mechanical copying rather than free, spontaneous writing.
How does an examiner distinguish tracing from a skilled freehand simulation?+
Tracing typically shows slow, hesitant line quality with tremor and pen lifts under magnification, sometimes alongside indented guide lines. Freehand simulation usually has more natural pen pressure but drifts from the genuine proportions.
Related terms
- Anonymous Writing
- A document whose author is concealed by design, ranging from threat and ransom letters to poison-pen office mail. Authorship attribution combines handwriting...
- Block-Letter Conversion
- Switching from cursive to block capitals to suppress connecting-stroke habits. Spacing, proportion and i-dot habits often survive.
- Disguised Writing
- Writing in which the writer has deliberately altered their habitual features to prevent identification; commonly involves changed slant, block capitals, opposite hand,...
- Freehand Forgery
- Forgery produced without any model of the genuine signature. Easy to detect because total morphology mismatches the genuine.
- Hand Change
- Writing with the non-dominant (usually left) hand. Produces awkward, angular, tremulous strokes with low fluency; the writer's habitual letter designs still surface...
- Lifted (Transferred) Forgery
- Genuine signature physically transferred from one document to another, classically by chemical lift, now by scanner-and-printer or photo-edit transplant onto a fabricated...
- Line Quality
- The overall fluency, rhythm and pressure variation of a stroke. Genuine writing has smooth, rhythmic, pressure-modulated lines; forgeries show tremor, blunt starts...
- Signature
- Psychologically expressive behaviours that go beyond what's needed to complete the offence: posing the body, ritual acts, taking trophies, leaving messages. Signature...
- Simulated Forgery
- Forgery drawn while looking at a genuine model. Shows slow execution, pen lifts, hesitation, tremor and patchwork retouching.
- Slant Change
- The commonest disguise: a right-handed writer with natural right slant deliberately writes with left or vertical slant. Holds for short stretches; idiosyncrasies...