Students have been using fake IDs to purchase alcohol since IDs were first made, but a new methods for producing fake IDs have piqued the interest of liquor store owners, law enforcement officials and club owners alike.
The new trend on college campuses nationwide of students using personal computers to create fake IDs authentic-looking enough to impress even experts is a problem that has alcohol-serving establishments and police worried.
"There are a million ways to make them. There are templates online that are sold for $80 that look exactly like real licenses. Some even scan," Tyler Haney '03 said.
Other Dartmouth students supported the claim that it was easy to obtain a fake ID. Karim Mohsen '03 said a friend with a fake ID often uses it to buy alcohol in a liquor store in West Lebanon.
"It's very easy for students to make fake IDs. There are so many different websites and other avenues that they can use," Capt. Christopher O'Connor of the Hanover Police Department said.
"A forger would need only a personal computer, a scanner, a good printer, any graphics application like Photoshop, Illustrator or Canvas and a good laminating device to make an ID that would pass cursory inspection," said Bill Brawley, Director of Computing Services.
Those who want to produce fake IDs have only to scan a picture of a real license into a computer, use basic design software to alter the birth date, stencil in the necessary holograms, make a printout and then laminate it.
For those willing to shell out extra money, there is an alternative route to creating fake IDs that is more advanced than the scan and laminate method: some websites feature ID templates so sophisticated that users can recreate the holograms, bar codes, shadow pictures and detailed state insignias on modern licenses.
A search on the Internet resulted in over 39,000 hits, including many sites that sold fake-ID templates and provided ID-making services at rates of $20 to over $100 dollars. One site that sells templates to make fake IDs charged $29 for six months of access to their templates.
Even though fake IDs are easier to make nowadays, they are not much harder to detect.
Jeremy Lacouture, bar-manager of the Palladium, a concert venue and dance club in Boston, addressed ways to thwart the success of those with IDs ordered online.
"A large portion of kids today buy their IDs off the Internet," Lacouture said. "Most kids go to the same few web sites to get them. Each company on the Internet uses its own hologram seal that you can tell comes from an online site.
When someone is caught with a fake ID, it is confiscated and turned in to the police, Lacouture said.
"As sophisticated as some of these fake IDs have become, they're not sophisticated enough," said John Vorder Bruegge, prosecuting attorney of the Lower Grafton County Prosecutorial Association, citing improved technology and better enforcement of laws by store owners as aids in detecting the IDs.
According to Bruegge, there have only been a couple of individuals caught per month over the last half a year. Of those caught, he said none have admitted to making a fake ID.
Under New Hampshire law, manufacturing, selling, or merely posessing a fake license would be considered a Class A misdemeanor resulting in a maximum of to one year in prison and a $1200 fine.
Telltale signs of fake IDs are flawed holograms and incorrect letter and number codes that are supposed to be known only by police and a state's motor vehicle department.
However, even without the advantage of knowing the letter and number codes, employees who work to prevent the use of fake IDs at establishments that serve alcohol are quick to spot a fake ID.
One of the main security measures taken to prevent the use of fake IDs is an ID scanner, which can be programmed to detect a fake license or ID by using a magnetic strip found on the back of the cards.
In addition to using scanners, Stinson's -- a local alcohol vendor -- sends employees to the New Hampshire Commission of Alcohol for a three-hour long seminar to train them to look for fake IDs.
A Stinson's employee Lisa Carter said, "We see a fake ID less than once a month because of the good security and we always prosecute whenever we see a fake ID."
One restaurant, Murphy's on the Green, is in the process of getting a scanner that will most likely be programmed to display all of the information on a license. Restaurant manager John MacDonald explained that the information would not be retained on the machine once a card was scanned.
As a precaution, Murphy's cards all patrons from Thursday to Sunday. Anyone caught with a fake ID is turned over to the police.
Gordy Roby, a bartender at Five Olde Nugget, a local restaurant, employs the latest book that is put out by the Department of Liquor Control to find out what IDs from other states should look like.
"IDs are getting better with laser printers. Most states have little hidden things in the ID that you could check for," Roby said.
However, unlike other local establishments, Five Old Nugget does not always report those with fake IDs, instead opting to send them away.
Tim Bonehill, a manager of Jillian's of Boston -- an entertainment complex in Boston made up of a dance club, pool hall and arcade -- explained some other quick ways to tell a fake ID from a real one.
"We run our fingers over the ID for bumps from scratching which is what people do to change their birthdate on the card. We also check the laminate to find places where it is inconsistent to find a place where a card been tampered with," Bonehill said.
Stopping the consumption of alcohol by minors is not the only reason that police have a problem with people owning or selling fake IDs.
"One problem in addition to underage drinking that arises with the use of fake IDs is that people will attempt to produce a fake ID to an officer to pretend to be someone else and to avoid arrest. That's a rarity but it certainly does happen," O'Connor said.
