Prevent counterfeit: sign your full name

Photo: JAANUS LENSMENT/POSTIMEES/PM/SCANPIX BALTICS

With signatures, says handwriting expert Eve Kristjankroon, most importantly these need to be sufficiently complicated. Good to write Christian and family name both so its is longer. Never ever sign a blank sheet! 

«Better add to signature loops, arches and other such elements. Best to write it one flowing line without lifting the pen at all. The more the stops while writing, the easier to counterfeit the signature,» advised Ms Kristjankroon. Often, the falsifiers err with the very loops and arches which are seemingly simple elements, said the expert.

Whoever signs things often will forget why they do it, so it becomes too plain and short. «For them, giving the signature is a routine activity so they try to do it fast, forgetting that the sole aim of a signature is later identification of the person. There is no other aim in writing a signature,» explained Ms Kristjankroon.

Under microscope, among other things the handwriting expert is investigating in which order and at what direction the moves have been made with the pen, as well as the placement of the writing. «If at any place the line of the pen has been halted and continued anew, this is seen under the microscope. Also, we look at the speed of the movement. When writing very fast, the line will be thinner. When writing slowly, the line is even,» she said.

While DNA and fingerprints cannot be altered by an individual, handwriting to a decree may be shaped and twisted. «Usually, when a person does his handwriting different, he alters the overall features: size, tilt, distribution. Meanwhile, the peculiarities whereby writer is identified, a person cannot alter these significantly,» said the expert. Consistently, people are only able to alter a couple of their main features of handwriting. Often they just alter the so-called fount.