In the annals of harebrained criminal schemes, few manage to blend arrogance and absurdity quite like the case of Sharn Parzival, a 25-year-old Indian national who thought he could bluff his way into U.S. citizenship with a fake birth certificate, a flimsy lie, and, apparently, the belief that federal agents wouldn’t bother checking fingerprints. Spoiler alert: They did.
Parzival, who arrived in the United States in 2021 on a student visa, was expelled from school and instead of, say, reapplying elsewhere or figuring out a legal way to stay, decided he’d just go ahead and claim to be an American citizen. At a post office in Somerville, Massachusetts, he filled out an application for a U.S. passport, swore under penalty of perjury that he was born in Maryland, and backed up his claim with a fraudulent birth certificate.
Now, there are plenty of things a person might try to get away with in life. But pretending to be born in Maryland when there’s precisely zero record of it? That’s a rookie mistake.
The Least Thought-Out Plan in the History of Plans
Let’s break down the genius-level strategy here:
1. Parzival walks into a post office and submits his fraudulent documents.
2. Someone in the U.S. government, whose entire job is to verify documents, checks said documents.
3. The birth certificate doesn’t exist in any official record.
4. The government, not being particularly fond of passport fraud, investigates further.
5. Parzival doubles down on his claim, waltzing into a federal office to demand his passport.
6. The feds, perhaps amused by his audacity, interview him.
7. He insists—again—that he was born in Maryland, has no connection to India, and has never applied for a visa.
8. The agents compare his fingerprints to the ones he provided when he actually applied for a visa in India.
9. A forensic analyst confirms: It’s a match.
At this point, one has to wonder: Was this sheer ignorance? Was it arrogance? Or did Parzival genuinely believe the government operates on the honor system?
**A Masterclass in Bad Lying**
Lying to the federal government is never a great idea. Lying when they already have your fingerprints on file? That’s like robbing a bank and then handing the cops your business card. Even the worst of con artists at least put some effort into their deception—Parzival, however, seemed to be under the impression that confidently stating something makes it true.
Unfortunately for him, reality doesn’t work that way.
Five Months in Jail and a One-Way Ticket Out
For his troubles, Parzival was sentenced to time served (about five months) and one year of supervised release. But here’s the kicker—he’s also facing deportation, meaning his entire attempt to fake his way into U.S. citizenship has left him worse off than if he had just followed the law in the first place.
At the end of the day, the Parzival saga is less a tale of high-stakes fraud and more a case study in what happens when you vastly overestimate your own cleverness. He thought he could outsmart the system. Instead, he became just another cautionary tale in the ever-growing archive of “dumbest criminals in America.”
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/indian-national-sentenced-making-false-statements-application-us-passport-and-federal
