The Dutch police have discovered a new form of fraud through the change of personal name, which is characteristic of criminals from Eastern Europe but also from the Balkans, i.e. Montenegro.
The police in the Netherlands announced that criminals go to the countries of their birth and change their personal names there, in order to disappear from the police records in the Netherlands and pass more easily without control.
"Foreigners enter the Netherlands under a new name, without the Dutch authorities knowing anything about it. The police are still investigating how often this is done," reports Dutch RTL, citing a police source.
Frequent name changes, as stated, also enable criminal acts related to financial fraud. After a criminal changes his personal name in his homeland, only the same date of birth remains on the documents. As countries where personal name changes can be easily made, apart from Montenegro, the Dutch media report mentions the members of the European Union - Croatia and Romania, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Albania.
Abuse of the right to change one's personal name has already been noted in the police document SOCTA - Assessment of the threat of serious and organized crime in Montenegro. The personal name is usually changed by those who were detained for criminal offenses in the countries of Western Europe, the Montenegrin police announced.
"Changing personal name and obtaining new identification documents enables them to move more easily in the territory of the mentioned countries and avoid control by law enforcement authorities," the SOCTA document says.
A criminal with a "career" in Western Europe, if he is not prosecuted in Montenegro, can theoretically change his name and surname countless times as a Montenegrin citizen.
According to the Montenegrin Law on Personal Name, the one who exercises the right to change his name or surname is not obliged to explain why he is doing so. In the official statistics published so far, the reasons for changing surnames are not noted, so it is not known how many were marital changes and how many were other.
In 2013, 539 adults changed their personal name, while in the first two months of 2014, 68 people changed their personal name.
By law, a personal name consists of the first and last name under which a person enters the legal system of the state. The procedure for changing one's personal name is not complicated and costs 20 euros, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible.
In Croatia, a court certificate is required
"The right to freely choose a personal name must not be restricted, unless it is necessary to protect public safety or the rights and freedoms of other persons," the Montenegrin law states.
The law stipulates that a person who has been convicted of a criminal offense and who is being prosecuted ex officio may not change his personal name.
This prohibition lasts until the execution of the legal sentence or until the legal consequences of the conviction last. The Ministry is obliged to obtain information from the criminal records before deciding on the request to change the personal name.
In Croatia, for example, a citizen who wants to change his name is obliged to submit a court certificate that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against him.
Bonus video:
