Stolen Blank Document means an ID document is made up of a substrate personalized with its bearer’s personal data. When the job of personalization is decentralized to local authorities, blank ID documents are sent to these points. Forgers take advantage of this transit to steal some of the blanks, and then personalize them to produce what is commonly called a “stolen blank.”
Today, ID documents are mostly personalized in a secure central location to avoid this kind of fraud, although exceptions exist: notably, visas are necessarily personalized in consulates and embassies. Stolen blank fraud is a significant concern for this kind of document.
