International Journal of Research ISSN NO: 2236-6124ijrpublisher.com/gallery/165-september-541.pdf · The concurrent signatures were written on two different cheques and both were

Forensic Identification of

Actual Concurrently Written Signatures by Software

Swapnil Gupta1, Dr. Anu Singla1 and Deepak Handa2

1Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi-284001

2Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CBI), New Delhi- 110003

Corresponding Author- Swapnil Gupta* ([email protected])

Abstract

Today most people are signature-conscious and will deny genuine signatures on

documents if they want to take any benefit from it. They keep their next move to themselves

and disclose only when it is fruitful to them. Signatures are elusive things in that they sit on

the surface of pictures, taking no part of in their pictorialness. Yet they too have a style of

their own- essentially so- they are ‘signatures’ of signatures. In the present instance, authors

have created an actual case by writing concurrently written signatures. As the signatures

written concurrently seems ‘alike signature’. The concurrent signatures were written on two

different cheques and both were also been cleared by the bank. The interesting part of the

instance is that no writing of the drawer was involved in both cheques except concurrently

written signatures. This is certainly a loop hole in the system and criminals can take the

undue advantages for the same. In the present research, MB Ruler software is used for the

identification of concurrently written signatures. The proposed paper is focused to highlights

this type of latest art of fraud, which is also a challenge for the questioned document experts.

Keywords

Concurrently Written Signature, Concurrent Forgery, MB Ruler, Writing device.

Introduction

Actually “Handwriting” is not handwriting; it is a Head-writing. Instead of calling it

as handwriting it should be called as ‘Brain-writing’. The practiced part of human body

whether it is hand, foot, mouth, nose, ear etc controlled by the brain both consciously and

unconsciously. Handwriting is the very complicated series of acts, controlled by neuro-

muscular coordination and gained after a long continued practice. There is an involvement of

27 bones and 40 muscles, if a person writes with a hand. A signature is a highly individual

writing of the person.

Figure 1: A Signature

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One of the basic principles of handwriting is all writing contains natural variation so

that no two signatures by the same writer will be exactly the same. No repeated act is always

accomplished with identically the same result regardless of whether it is produced by a

machine or human effort. It is a matter of common knowledge that genuine signatures written

by the same writer differ from each other within certain well defined limits and certain

normal divergences in size, lateral position and proportions actually indicate genuineness.

Variation is due principally to the lack of machinelike precision in the human body,

but it is also accentuated by external factors, such as writing position, the type of writing

instrument used and the amount of care given to the act of writing. Writing variation also can

be influenced by the physical and mental condition of the writer.

Normally, autoforgery would be defined as a forgery of one’s signature created by

oneself. This, however, is a contradiction of terms for a forgery must be, by definition, an

execution performed by another person. The observation must be made, then, that there is no

such thing not only limited as autoforgery but also a genuine forgery which can be referred as

‘Concurrent Forgery’. Thus, in the concurrent forgery, a person writes his/her signature that

its identical pictorialness will pass casual scrutiny and under normal circumstances, will be

accepted as genuine. At the same time, the signature will, by virtue of some features of a less

conspicuous handwriting attribute, deceive handwriting examiners into concluding and

believing that the signature is spurious.

A cheque is a document that orders a payment of money from a bank account. The

person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a bank account where their money was

previously deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the monetary amount,

date and a payee on the cheque and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay

that person or company the amount of money stated. Cheques are a type of bill of exchange

and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of

money. Technically, a cheque is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to

pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified transactional account held in the

drawer's name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or

legal entities. Specifically, cheques are order instruments and are not in general payable

simply to the bearer (as bearer instruments are) but must be paid to the payee.

The 4 main items on a cheque are

Drawer, the person or entity who makes the cheque

Payee, the recipient of the money

Drawee, the bank or other financial institution where the cheque can be presented for

payment

Amount, the currency amount



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Figure 2: Layout of a sample Cheque Leaf

Cheques have been a tempting target for criminals to steal money or goods from the

drawer, payee or the banks. Forgery confers no title and a holder acquires no title to a forged

instrument. A forged instrument is treated as a nullity. Forgery with the intention of obtaining

title to an instrument would include: (1) fraudulently writing the name of an existing person,

(2) signing the name of a fictitious person with the intention that it may pass that of a real

person, or (3) signing one’s own name with the intention that the signature may pass as the

signature of some other person of the same name. Sometimes, forgery is the method of choice

in defrauding a bank. One form of forgery involves the use of a victim's legitimate cheques,

that have either been stolen and then cashed or altering a cheque that has been legitimately

written to the perpetrator, by adding words and/or digits to inflate the amount.

Actual Case Instance

In the present study, an actual case is created for research purpose only in order to

form/write two concurrently written signatures in two separate bank cheques with the use of a

writing device. This device is basically having two writing instruments and that are

positioned just parallel to each other as well as they are connected together.

A person, who creates these concurrently written signatures, generally relies on some

efforts to enable him to deny his signatures. People will newer attempt to do any effort unless

having any benefit from this. So definitely, concurrently written signatures create a special

type of forgery that may be called as ‘Concurrent Forgery’. The signatures/writings created

by this type of forgery may be pronounced as concurrently forged signatures/writings.

Keeping the above mentioned facts, the present researcher has decided to work on the

one of the major principle of handwriting identification i.e. “No one person can write exactly

the same way twice.” Although the researcher agrees with the principle but the principle must

follow a criterion i.e. “No one person can write exactly the same way twice until and unless

writings should not be written at the similar time (Concurrently).” The Writing written at

similar time called to be as ‘Concurrent Writing’ whereas signatures are called as

‘Concurrent Signatures’. The Concurrent Signatures can be examined by studying

handwriting characteristics, High Resolution Spectral Comparator etc.



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But the current research is based on the Forensic identification of Concurrently

Written Signatures by using other software such as MB Ruler.

Concurrent Signatures:

These are produced when two or more writing instrument fixed on a device is moved at

similar time (Concurrently) in contact with the writing surface. When two signatures are

written by this device is called as ‘2 Concurrent Signatures’ or ‘2CS’. Although more than

two Concurrent signatures can be taken but present work on only 2CS.

Figure 3: 2 Concurrent Signatures or 2CS

Figure 4: 2 Concurrent Signatures written on both cheques



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Figure 5: Concurrently Written Signatures on both cheques

In this particular instance, two blank cheques of the researcher were signed himself by the

writing device to form concurrently written signatures. Then both the cheques were given to

the different ‘Payees’ as the first cheque no. 010313 was presented in the name of ‘Vibes

Health Care LTD and second cheque no. 010314 was presented to ‘Kulwant Kaur’. In this

case researcher also didn’t filled any details in the cheque himself including payees name,

amount in both places and date. Rather, he tactically presented a condition that these can be

signed by the recipient them self/ or by others off course in the presence of himself. So that in

future when he may deny his signatures can told a story like that ‘someone forged his

signature on the cheque leaves as he had already lost his cheque book/leaves’.



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Figure 6: Concurrently Written Signatures of 1st Cheque

Figure 7: Concurrently Written Signatures of 2nd Cheque

Forensic Identification by M. B. Ruler Software

MB Ruler- MB (Markus Bader) Ruler, software, is helpful for measuring distances and

angles on the screen (computer or laptop screen). This software can also use as portable

application means no need of its installation in the computer. MB-Ruler works on WinXP /

Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 and Windows 10. MB-Ruler is freeware for private and

non commercial use as well as the complete package (ZIP file) can be downloaded from its

website. After downloading, the setup can be easily installed on your computer. Software

MB-RULER is wonderful, the authors have applied this in the Forensics, is very useful to

measure angles and distances in the identification of concurrently written signatures. In the

current research, parameters were analyzed using on-screen digital MB-Ruler - the triangular

screen ruler 5.3 version.



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Figure 8: On Screen MB Ruler Software

Triangular Ruler- Triangular Ruler is one of the basic version/mode of the complete

package of MB Ruler. Triangular Ruler is itself sufficient for the identification of

concurrently written signatures. Not only in concurrent signatures but also can be useful for

similar matching signatures. This method gives the clear cut angle measurement of any

strokes of signatures. So very useful for the identification of concurrent signatures.

There are quite a lot of advanced options available in MB-Ruler and in addition to

measuring distances from one point to another using 6 different scales of measurement, it can

also calculate angles with a protractor and includes its own sophisticated coordinates

measuring system. The interface is a semi transparent set square in which the center acts as

the starting point for measuring and is simply grabbed and dragged around the screen to

change the start point. Other notable features include a color picker, screen capture, a grid

system with snapping, screen loupe function and overlayed shapes and lines or points etc can

be placed around the screen. A standalone version can be created from the options menu.



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Figure 9: Triangular Ruler (MB Ruler) Software

Functions:

measure distances measure angles draw lines with the ruler

Description:

The virtual triangular ruler is very near to a real triangular ruler in its use. The ruler

can be moved by moving the contact area in the middle of the hypotenuse. By moving

the contact points at both ends of the hypotenuse, it can be rotated. The triangular

ruler measures the distance between the center of the hypotenuse and the mouse

position and the angle between this line and the hypotenuse. Open the options window

to change the interval and the orientation of the the measured angle. A double click on

the circular information area hides the ruler.

Define scale:

MB-Ruler can measure distances in the units

pixel

centimeter

inch

points

twips or

a user defined scale



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(a) Measuring angles of concurrently written signatures:

For the identification of concurrently written signatures, two letters ‘p’ and ‘l’ are

chosen as both letters comprised of vertical strokes. Difference in the angle between

of letter ‘p’ is found approx 3° (110°-107°) [Fig: 10] whereas difference in the angle

between of letter ‘l’ is approx 3° (107°-103°) [Fig: 11].

Figure 10: Measurement of angle of letter ‘p’ in both cheques

Figure 11: Measurement of angle of letter ‘l’ in both cheques



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(b) Measuring distances of concurrently written signatures:

Distances are also measured for the identification of concurrently written signatures.

Distances can be measured in means of any particular distance in between of both the

signatures such as difference in the distance of signatures is found approx 44 (386-342)

[Fig: 12]. Not only the horizontal distance but also the vertical distance can be measured

such as the distance between of letter ‘l’ is found approx -1 (126-127) [Fig: 13].

Figure 12: Measurement of particular distance of signature in both cheques

Figure 13: Measurement of distance of letter ‘l’ in both cheques



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(c) Measuring coordinates of concurrently written signatures:

Coordinates can be calculated by using this software too. In this way, diversion of

signature/letters can be calculated in reference to X and Y axis. When the coordinates of

letter ‘S’ are calculated, it shows difference of x1 as 15 (78-63) and y1 as 0 (124-124) [Fig:

14]. In the same way, the coordinates of letter ‘l’ are calculated, it shows difference of x1 as 5

(42-37) and y1 as 3 (87-84) [Fig: 15].

Figure 14: Measurement of coordinates of letter ‘S’ in both cheques

Figure 15: Measurement of coordinates of letter ‘l’ in both cheques

Suggestion

It is important to note down that for all units (except pixel), calibration is required in MB-

Ruler, as it is not possible to calculate the real physical values from the data stored inside the

operating system. Choose one of the value and move the slider "correction factor" until the

values in the field below are correct. Since the current research is based on comparison of

concurrently written signatures so calibration is not essentially required.



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Conclusion

Now days, most of the experts have started to work on some sophisticated

instruments, whenever these types of tedious problems are present wherein the signatures

having similar pictorial appearance are present. Sometimes, superimposition is not only

enough but there is need of some calculation which is helpful for the identification of

concurrently written signatures. MB Ruler instrument is really simple and is used to measure

the distance between two points on the screen. It measures the length of a line and also the

angle between of a line and the horizontal. So it is very much clear that from the difference in

the calculation that there is slight variations present also in case of concurrently written

signatures, which can be easily calculated by using software such as MB Ruler. This

concurrent signature shows signs of genuineness not of crude forgery. It is a latest type of

auto forgery which can be pronounced as ‘Concurrent Forgery’. Therefore, questioned

document examiner should also examine the chances of concurrent forgery, wherever

needful.

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4. Gupta, S., Gupta, K. & Handa, D. R. (2018), “Forensic Detection & Decipherment of

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11. Hilton, O. (1993), “Scientific examination of questioned documents”, Revised edition,

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International Journal of Research ISSN NO: 2236-6124ijrpublisher.com/gallery/165-september-541.pdf · The concurrent signatures were written on two different cheques and both were