Top Selling Fake Driver License Website Closed

A notorious online website selling counterfeit driver licenses was recently closed by US officials. Bob Hines of the US secret service described this online site as being the mother load of online fake id sellers. 

"These fake driver licenses sold online were some of the most authentic-looking ever seen. Mass-produced genuine fake ids sold by the hundreds from this one online fake id  website." 

These sites offered quick delivery of a fake id to your wallet in under a week for around $100. Advertised as novelty id cards, they were in fact genuine counterfeit copies of US driver licenses complete in every detail. After being in law enforcement for 20 years, 10 years of those as a policeman, I couldn't tell them from the real thing.

They duplicated these driver licenses right down to the smallest detail. Holograms and UV ink, etc,. One site even sold a temple for a California driver license for $25,000. 

"Like most college students do, I was able to order an online fake driver's license for around $120. They are sold online as novelty ids, but they are far from being novelties."

The sale of online fake driver's licenses is stumping law enforcement. Many can't distinguish the faked ids from the real thing.

Let's examine what happened recently at a major US college campus. 

It began last year as law enforcement officers confiscated around 200 fake id from students that claimed they purchased the fake driver's licenses online. The investigation led police on a raid of a building located in North Miami. This popular online fake id website was responsible for helping to spread the word on the quality of there fake driver licenses.

The largest slice of their business was aimed at college students looking to buy fake ids.

“I don’t think we are quite aware of how big it was,” said Wayne Berg, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case. “It certainly was a large operation.”

"Almost every college student learns of the fake id selling websites through word of mouth. They ordered through email, paid by mail and got their new licenses a week later."

After catching an alarming number of people with fake driver's licenses we began to piece together the scale of the operation and the online source. 

In 1984 Congress lifted the drinking age from 18 to 21. The underground market for fake ids was now born for young people. The fake ids back then were not so sophisticated and didn't require expensive printing technology. 

Then came the computer revolution of the 1990's. That was quickly followed by the birth of the internet and advances in id card printing technology. 

Today a person can go on the web and find dozens of sites selling novelty fake ids. Just mail in your order complete with photo and signature and in about 2 weeks you get a fake id in the mail.