KUALA LUMPUR - THE Immigration Department is cracking down on syndicates supplying fake work passes to foreigners desperate to work in Malaysia.

Foreign workers, who unknowingly pay for the fake passes, have been urged by the department to become informers, The Star reported on Monday.

The department's enforcement director, Ishak Mohamed, said if the foreign workers had proof they were cheated, the department would help them return home.

'But if they are caught possessing the fake permits, they will be charged and the burden is on them to prove that they are innocent,' said Mr Ishak.

Fake passes have become the third biggest problem involving the arrests of migrant workers, said Mr Ishak.

Last year, 28,000 foreigners were arrested. Out of this, 2,001 or 7 per cent were caught having fake work passes.

The highest number of arrests involved fake travel documents (16,362) and second highest was for overstaying, with 7,683 cases, according to The Star.

Ishak said that most of those caught with fake passes were Indonesian and Filipino workers.

He said the syndicates conducted their activities through agents or runners who approached foreigners.

The syndicates use machines to produce work passes identical to a real one, except that the pass holder's data is not in the department's system.