Fake IDs

Photo by Ari Jacobovits

Identification cards such as these all have magnetic strips encoded with information about the individual card owner. New devices can detect fraudulent IDs by scanning these strips.

CardVisor ID Scanner
Best Line of Defense
Scanners At Work
Exploring Alternatives

It's 12:30 am on a Saturday in Bloomington, Indiana, and the line outside the entrance to Kilroy's Sports Bar is lengthening. The cold weather seems to leave some of the underdressed unfazed. The fazed hold their elbows and stare at their feet wishing the line would move just a little bit faster.

Body language and banter indicate various levels of sobriety. Some swagger and swear while others appear cool, calm and collected.

In a town with so many college students waiting in line to drink, bars and liquor stores have turned to the most effective and inexpensive ways of screening for fraudulent ID

Many local businesses that check customers' IDs are hesitant to invest in electronic verification devices, or scanners, even though they are currently available. Responsible for their hesitation is the lack of effectiveness they find in ID scanners. Meanwhile, ID verification concerns have increased in the wake of 9/11. Even though detecting ID fraud is vital to national security, scanners still cannot match the detection capabilities of a FBI background check or a well-trained human being.

“We've tested them (scanners),” says Big Red Liquors Chief Operating Officer Wade Shanower. “They rarely catch something that a clerk can't get.”

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 prompted a change in government policies toward ID cards. Businesses ranging in size from the federal government to small town establishments have turned their attention to better detecting ID fraud.

It is now harder than even to obtain an ID card from an Indiana BMV, according to BMV Communications Department member Ryan Furry.

“As far as changes made after September 11, 2001, there were none to the ID itself,” Furry says. “However, we have started requiring customers to provide us with more documentation which helps prove identity when applying for a driver license or ID.”

Delaware-based Token Works Inc. is one of the leading developers of ID verification technology which also helps prove costumer identity. They manufacture the CardVisor ID Scanner for use “before selling age sensitive products such as alcohol and tobacco,” according to the Token Works Web site.

The Card Visor ID Scanner works by scanning magnetic strips and 2d bar codes. Accounting for a periodic service charge for technological updates, this technology could cost businesses anywhere from $395 to $1,325, depending on a wide range of software options.

Depending on the features purchased, the CardVisor can perform any or all of the following functions: extract names and addresses, put together VIP and banned lists, catalog appended notes, and prevent pass backs (when multiple people use the same valid ID to enter illegally).

An alternative to the CardVisor, the ID Logix C100, produced by Arizona-based manufacturer Primary Payment Systems, shows bouncers and salesmen several messages when they scan IDs. “Valid Format, ID Expired, ID May Be Falsified, Under 21, Under 18, and Unknown Card” are the messages the machine displays, according to its Web site.

Bloomington Police Department Captain Michael Diekhoff said he believes there are currently no Bloomington businesses selling alcohol that have these scanners.

Yet during the March 4th bust of Axis Night Club, a total of 68 minor citations were issued by Indiana State Excise Police, authorities say.

“Obviously it is important (to spot fake IDs), but since so many students have real IDs of their older brother or sister, it's hard to stop,” says Captain Diekhoff. “Using scanners would be helpful, though, only for fakes.”

Most of the fakes found in Bloomington aren't exactly fakes, according Bloomington-based Big Red Liquor's manager Matt Knueven. They are misrepresented IDs, made legally and passed on to a minor. Scanners have no way of picking up on misrepresented IDs.

Big Red employees find their conventional methods of hologram detection with black lights, running a finger across the face the face of an ID for any inconsistent scratches, placing the ID under a magnifying glass and cross-checking IDs with a state ID reference guide aren't effective against misrepresented IDs either.

The best line of defense is the trained eye. “You can just tell sometimes,” Knueven says.

In many cases of ID fraud, the clues are present even before the ID and one other form of identification is verified (the presentation of two forms of ID is required at Big Red Liquors). Knueven says a minor with a fake will act nervous, fidgety, and will often stumble when he talks.

If it isn't obvious they are committing ID fraud at that point, Knueven has a few tricks up his sleeve.

His primary back-up plan is to simply compare the headshot on the ID with the appearance of the cardholder. Although many brothers and sister look similar, Knueven insists on the reliability of this method.

Big Red Liquor's policy is to card anyone who looks under the age of 27. It's all a judgment call, he says.

Questions about date of birth, age, height, weight and year of high school graduation will probe the motive of the cardholder further.

“One time I asked this guy how old he was,” Knueven says. “He looked me straight in the eye and said ‘I don't know'.”

The more experience an ID checker has, the less room there is for human error in checking IDs, which in turn secures Kneuven's job. Big Red has a three strikes policy for its management. If Knueven fails to detect ID fraud and is caught by excise police three times, he will lose his job.

“We have to be hard-asses,” Knueven says. “There is a lot of trouble you can get into, for yourself and for your businesses.”

When fines can add up to at least $300 per minor for businesses, getting caught may be the virtual end to a business like Axis Night Club, according to Knueven.

“Jobs at bars and liquor stores have a high turnover rate,” Knueven says. “But I've been working there [Big Red Liquors] for four years and every year there is a new fake ID trend.”

That's why Knueven's method of personally investigating each questionable cardholder has remained relatively flawless through the years.

The Woodhollow, a tavern in Schererville, Indiana decided buy ID scanners after an excise raid a few years ago, according to manager Ari Weinstein.

During the raid, excise police discovered several people that had managed to enter the establishment illegally using a fake ID.

“Kids know that we have them (scanners) now, and they serve as a deterrent to anyone with a fake,” Weinstein says.

Weinstein speculates that the number of people still able to enter the Woodhollow with a fake ID has gone down significantly since they began using ID scanners.

Nonetheless, the Woodhollow finds the scanner's effectiveness not to be a product of the verification technology itself. Rather, its physical presence is enough to scare away fake ID holders, Weinstein says.

Token Works Inc. markets CardVisor ID Scanners as “packages that pay for themselves,” according to the company's website.

Although the advertisement sounds tempting, many local businesses remain reluctant to make the purchase, since buying them would have no positive impact on verification.

Gun retailers require a method of ID verification that a scanner could never provide.

Stewart's, a local sporting goods store, sold guns to hunters and collectors until a few months ago. The owner has since been forced to sell the gun department for financial reasons, says a man who only wants to be known as “Bob,” a Stewart's employee.

Until 2001, Stewart's had performed background checks through the Indiana State Police, according to Bob.

After submitting a request for a background check of the costumer depicted on the three forms of ID Stewart's had required, the State Police responded within a week, according to Bob.

But after 9/11 Stewart's began using a technologically advanced background check system that directly sent in all ID information to the Indiana FBI branch rather than the State Police.

“The technology today is so great it takes four to five minutes to punch in and it usually takes no longer than a day to hear back,” Bob says.

Gun store owners that fail to sell guns responsibly are considered felons; they could face a $20,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison, according to Bob.

“The punishment hasn't changed since 9/11 and gun restrictions are as tight as they've always been,” Bob says. The only difference is their system of background checks.

While gun sellers are able to tap into FBI databases, most businesses are left to fend for themselves when it comes to recognizing false identification.

“We have looked in to [scanners], but felt that it, like most new electronics, was too pricey and not fully developed,” says Kilroy's manager Linda Prall. “We will be going to the National Restaurant Show in May and intend to look at the system again.”

Prall is certain that many improvements have been made since Kilroy's first investigated. ID scanners and they may reconsider implementing them in the future.