AGE FRAUD

n.

The misrepresentation of one's age, particularly as a way of gaining an unfair advantage in a sports competition. Also:age-fraud.

A senior Chinese basketball official has admitted China had been guilty of fielding over-aged players in youth internationals.

"I'm sorry to say that some of our past results from international youth games were not real as we had some over-aged players in the squads," Xinhua quoted Zhang Xiong, director of the training and research department of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), as saying on Tuesday."But from now on, we promise to have real U-18 or U-20 national teams compete in our internationals." Zhang did not elaborate as to which international matches had been tainted, but said that futureage fraudwould be dealt with harshly in a new registration policy implemented by the CBA.

"Age fraudis the cancer of the development of our youth teams. We will start a war againstage fraudas we have against doping," Zhang said.

—"Official admitsage fraud,"China Daily, November 16, 2006

A former Brazil youth player has recently confessed to falsifying his age to advance his career, a growing problem that started in Africa and has now shifted to South America.

Carlos Alberto, who helped Brazil win the under-20 World Championship in 2003, said he was 25 at the time. He received a one-year suspension by Brazil's top sports tribunal. On Thursday, he was interrogated by Brazilian federal police and could be charged with fraud.

Commonplace in Africa,age-fraudis widely believed to be rife in Brazil, but very few athletes have been caught or suspended.

—Tales Azzoni, "Player's suspension stirs age-cheating controversy in Brazil,"Associated Press Worldstream, December 1, 2006

Nigeria is to reject the charge brought by the International Football Federation that the country cheated the 1983 and 1985 junior World Cup soccer tourneys withage fraud.

—"Nigeria to reject FIFA charge,"Xinhua General Overseas News Service, April 13, 1990

419 scam

biofraud

fraud-u-Net

grandparent scam

Sports and Recreation

Crime