Introduction to the Examination of Altered Documents

Forensic document examiners are often retained to determine whether a document has been altered. Alterations are made in many ways. The person making the alteration believes they are clever enough to avoid detection. Usually they leave traces of their misdeeds behind. This presentation offers an overview to attorneys to different types of alterations encountered by document examiners and methods of detecting the alterations. Topics covered include:

- Altered documents
- Deeds filed with the county recorder
- Alteration of a mortgage document
- Tools used by forensic document examiners to look for alterations
- Alteration of Computer generated documents
- Discovery of cut-and-paste signatures
- Alteration of medical records
- Alteration of email
- Is the Word document as purported?
- Examining signatures written on digital tablets