Cedar Rapids, IA, USA  
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe Today
The Gazette The Gazette
The Gazette The Gazette
  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food & Drink
  • Business
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe
CLOSE
The Gazette
Subscribe
My Account
  • News
    • All News
    • Election 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Business News
    • Community
    • Crime and Courts
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Nation and World
    • Time Machine
    • Search Archive

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Lee Hermiston
    • Erin Jordan
    • James Q. Lynch
    • Trish Mehaffey
    • Vanessa Miller
    • Kat Russell
    • Grace King
    • John Steppe
    • Gage Miskimen
    • Marissa Payne
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Hawkeye Football
    • Hawkeye Basketball
    • Prep Sports
    • Prep Volleyball
    • Prep Football
    • Prep Basketball
    • Prep Wrestling
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • UNI Panthers
    • Small College Sports
    • Minor League Sports
    • Outdoors

    Sports Desk

    • Mike Hlas
    • Jeff Johnson
    • Jeff Linder
    • J.R. Ogden
    • K.J. Pilcher
    • Leah Vann
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Editorial Mission
    • Guest Columnists
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Political Cartoons
    • Staff Columnists
    • Staff Editorials
    • Submit a Letter or Column

    Our Columnists

    • Todd Dorman
    • Adam Sullivan
  • Food and Drink
    • All Food and Drink
    • Chew on This
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Business Notes
    • Companies
    • Personal Finance
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy
    • Manufacturing
    • Openings & Closures
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Transportation

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Erin Jordan
    • John Steppe
  • Obituaries
    • All Obituaries
    • In Memory Of
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • Daily News Podcast
    • Fact Checker
    • Hlastradamus Odds
    • Iowa Prep Sports
    • On Iowa
    • On Iowa Politics
    • On UNI
    • Pinning Combination
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Art
    • Books
    • Museums & Galleries
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Things To Do
  • Living
    • All Living
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Milestones
    • People & Places
    • Pets & Animals
    • Recreation
    • Religion & Belief
    • Travel

    Our Writers

    • Diana Nollen
  • Kids Gazette
    • See All
    • Kids Cooking Series
    • Kids Galleries
    • Printables
    • Activities
    • Articles
    • Submissions
    • Resources
  • Photos
    • All Photos and Videos
    • The Iowa Photo
    • Photo Store

    Our Photojournalists

    • Andy Abeyta
    • Liz Martin
    • Rebecca Miller
    • Jim Slosiarek
    • Gazette Visuals
  • Milestones
    • All Milestones
    • Anniversaries
    • Days To Remember
    • Engagements
    • Holidays
    • In Remembrance
    • New Arrivals
    • Thank Yous
    • Submit a Milestone
  • Data
    • Arrests
    • Building Permits
    • Interactive Maps & Charts
    • Salaries
  • Gazette Sites
    • Classifieds
    • Corridor Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Gazette Gives Back
    • Gazette Rewards
    • Gazette Store
    • Green Gazette
    • HER
    • Iowa Wedding Experience
    • Holiday Light Finder
    • Hoopla
    • Iowa Ideas
    • Photo Store
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
    • About The Gazette
    • Archives
    • Article Removal
    • Business Directory
    • CR Arrest Database
    • Mobile Apps
    • Customer Care
    • Order Back Issues
    • Privacy Policies
    • Puzzle Answers
    • Sponsorship Requests
    • Submit a Letter
    • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast
Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
Log out

FOLLOW US

The Gazette
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
  • Entertainment
  • Living
  • Kids Gazette
  • Photos
  • Milestones
  • Data
  • Gazette Sites
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
  • All News
  • Election 2020
  • Coronavirus
  • Business News
  • Community
  • Crime and Courts
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • Nation and World
  • Time Machine
  • Search Archive

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Lee Hermiston
  • Erin Jordan
  • James Q. Lynch
  • Trish Mehaffey
  • Vanessa Miller
  • Kat Russell
  • Grace King
  • John Steppe
  • Gage Miskimen
  • Marissa Payne
  • All Sports
  • Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Hawkeye Football
  • Hawkeye Basketball
  • Prep Sports
  • Prep Volleyball
  • Prep Football
  • Prep Basketball
  • Prep Wrestling
  • Iowa State Cyclones
  • UNI Panthers
  • Small College Sports
  • Minor League Sports
  • Outdoors

Sports Desk

  • Mike Hlas
  • Jeff Johnson
  • Jeff Linder
  • J.R. Ogden
  • K.J. Pilcher
  • Leah Vann
  • All Opinion
  • Editorial Mission
  • Guest Columnists
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Political Cartoons
  • Staff Columnists
  • Staff Editorials
  • Submit a Letter or Column

Our Columnists

  • Todd Dorman
  • Adam Sullivan
  • All Food and Drink
  • Chew on This
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • All Business
  • Agriculture
  • Business Notes
  • Companies
  • Personal Finance
  • Economy
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Openings & Closures
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Small Business
  • Transportation

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Erin Jordan
  • John Steppe
  • All Obituaries
  • In Memory Of
  • Submit an Obituary
  • All Podcasts
  • Daily News Podcast
  • Fact Checker
  • Hlastradamus Odds
  • Iowa Prep Sports
  • On Iowa
  • On Iowa Politics
  • On UNI
  • Pinning Combination
  • All Entertainment
  • Art
  • Books
  • Museums & Galleries
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Things To Do
  • All Living
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Milestones
  • People & Places
  • Pets & Animals
  • Recreation
  • Religion & Belief
  • Travel

Our Writers

  • Diana Nollen
  • See All
  • Kids Cooking Series
  • Kids Galleries
  • Printables
  • Activities
  • Articles
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • All Photos and Videos
  • The Iowa Photo
  • Photo Store

Our Photojournalists

  • Andy Abeyta
  • Liz Martin
  • Rebecca Miller
  • Jim Slosiarek
  • Gazette Visuals
  • All Milestones
  • Anniversaries
  • Days To Remember
  • Engagements
  • Holidays
  • In Remembrance
  • New Arrivals
  • Thank Yous
  • Submit a Milestone
  • Arrests
  • Building Permits
  • Interactive Maps & Charts
  • Salaries
  • Classifieds
  • Corridor Careers
  • Garage Sales
  • Gazette Gives Back
  • Gazette Rewards
  • Gazette Store
  • Green Gazette
  • HER
  • Iowa Wedding Experience
  • Holiday Light Finder
  • Hoopla
  • Iowa Ideas
  • Photo Store
  • About The Gazette
  • Archives
  • Article Removal
  • Business Directory
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Mobile Apps
  • Customer Care
  • Order Back Issues
  • Privacy Policies
  • Puzzle Answers
  • Sponsorship Requests
  • Submit a Letter
  • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
LOG OUT

FOLLOW US

More Stories

Iowa State Patrol trooper killed during standoff

Hari Michele Osofsky is first University of Iowa presidential finalist…

Despite their discomfort, some residents beginning to agree to COVID-19…

Joni Ernst says ‘zero’ chance she will run for president…

Collins Aerospace parent Raytheon Technologies’ CFO steps down

Every Cedar Rapids traffic signal eventually will have observation cameras

Donors help replace Orchestra Iowa music ruined in derecho

’1619 Project’ creator Nikole Hannah-Jones says reparations for slavery must…

Home / News / Crime and Courts

Fake ID makers perfecting their craft

Vanessa MillerBy: Vanessa Miller Sep. 12, 2012 8:15 am Updated: Sep. 12, 2012 8:15 am
Fake ID makers perfecting their craft

Fake IDs aren't what they used to be.

Once crudely manufactured licenses only good enough to survive a cursory glance in a shadowy bar have been enhanced with today's technology and now, in some cases, can even pass through digital scanning equipment.

“The IDs we are seeing are better,” said Iowa City police Sgt. Denise Brotherton. “There has been an improvement in quality recently.”

Many of the higher-quality replicas being circulated today – including in college communities like Iowa City – are being produced overseas and peddled via the Internet. Companies, in some cases, can even replicate the holograms and PVC plastic on the cards.

Efforts to shut down operations producing counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses are under way, and four senators – including Iowa's Rep. Charles Grassley and Sen. Tom Harkin – recently wrote to China's ambassador urging his government to take action against companies selling fake IDs.

China-based IDChief.com, fingered among the larger contributors, shut down its operations in August after receiving international attention.

But other websites continue to pedal the top-quality fakes, and Brotherton said it can be difficult to catch violators with near-flawless replicas by just looking.

“What we can do is call into the dispatchers and run them through whatever state (the license) has,” Brotherton said. “They will let us know if the licenses exist.”

Staff checking IDs at bar entrances – like those in Iowa City, which ban people younger than 21 from entering after 10 p.m. – can't run everyone's name and therefore have a more difficult time catching some of the better frauds.

“We've heard they're getting them from websites, and they're very high quality,” said Leah Cohen, owner of Bo-James. “They are not the IDs that they used to have and that are easy to detect.”

The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division recently launched a new alcohol compliance training – the Iowa Program for Alcohol Compliance Training, or I-PACT – that educates bar staff on a variety of topics, including how to spot fake IDs.

Cohen said the training gives her bar and others like it a better shot at catching and keeping out underage patrons.

“But these new ones have the hologram and everything the same,” she said. “It's concerning to everyone – you just don't know. Some of these young college girls can look pretty old.”

The number of people arrested by the University of Iowa police for falsifying or unlawful use of IDs jumped to 89 in 2010 from 35 in 2009, according to annual statistics. The number fell to 60 last year, although that number was still higher than in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

David Visin, associate director of the UI Department of Public Safety, said arrest numbers can fluctuate without obvious explanation and that it's always a priority to stop the use of fake IDs.

Kelly Bender, campus community harm reduction initiatives coordinator for the UI Division of Student Life, said that while she doesn't track fake ID usage or arrests, the UI required all incoming freshman to participate in an alcohol-related survey in the fall 2011 semester.

Of the 4,710 students polled, only 3.4 percent said they had a fake ID and 3 percent said they intended to get one. In a random sample of 279 UI undergraduates in Spring 2012, 8.6 percent said they had a fake ID, according to the Off-Campus Party Study conducted by George Washington University.

The numbers are a bit higher when residential advisers are asked about the proliferation of fake IDs, according to Bender. Responding to a survey in June 2012, 30 percent of UI's advisers said they thought their residents used fake IDs to buy alcohol.

“The student data we have found that fake ID usage is not as high as people perceive it to be,” Bender said. “But that doesn't mean fake ID usage is not a concern.”

She said the perception is that the fake IDs have gotten better and that, she said, is not just a worry for underage drinking.

“It's a concern for national security,” Bender said, praising Grassley and Harkin for getting involved. “A higher level of intervention is really important.”

Iowa driver license. (Gazette file photo)
Vanessa Miller

Vanessa Miller

Reporter, The Gazette

Higher education reporter for The Gazette in Eastern Iowa. I love news tips, story ideas and reader feedback.

Hari Michele Osofsky is first University of Iowa presidential finalist…

University of Iowa hasn’t finalized athletics loan terms, interest rate

Regent committee recommends $10-$15 million for new Children’s Hospital windows

First University of Iowa presidential finalist to visit Monday

Iowa universities eye COVID vaccines for students

All articles by Vanessa

Give us feedback

We work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage because we value your trust. If you find an error or omission in our reporting, please tell us here.

Submit a story idea

Do you have a story idea that we should look into? Please tell us here.

Related Stories

Iowa City woman accused of misappropriating nearly $75,000

Iowa City woman accused of misappropriating nearly $75,000

Lee Hermiston Crime and Courts Jan. 6, 2021 7:25 am

Dubuque woman sentenced to 30 years for sex exploitation of…

Dubuque woman sentenced to 30 years for sex exploitation of…

Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Feb. 16, 2021 4:53 pm

Judge denies lowering $1 million bail for 17-year-old charged with…

Judge denies lowering $1 million bail for 17-year-old charged with…

Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Jan. 29, 2021 6:34 pm

Crime & Courts

CANCELED: Operation Quickfind issued for Marion boy

CANCELED: Operation Quickfind issued for Marion boy

The Gazette

Crime and Courts Apr. 11, 2021 11:40 am

Iowa State Patrol trooper killed during standoff

Iowa State Patrol trooper killed during standoff

AP

Crime and Courts Apr. 11, 2021 8:13 am

Man arrested at protest in Des Moines acquitted of charge

Man arrested at protest in Des Moines acquitted of charge

AP

Crime and Courts Apr. 10, 2021 5:26 pm

Fire that destroyed UnityPoint office building was not intentionally set,…

Fire that destroyed UnityPoint office building was not intentionally set,…

Kat Russell

Crime and Courts Apr. 9, 2021 4:40 pm

News

Despite their discomfort, some residents beginning to agree to COVID-19…

Despite their discomfort, some residents beginning to agree to COVID-19…

Michaela Ramm

Health Care and Medicine 3h ago

Hari Michele Osofsky is first University of Iowa presidential finalist…

Hari Michele Osofsky is first University of Iowa presidential finalist…

Vanessa Miller

Higher Ed 3h ago

Iowa high school trainers miss connection with athletes during COVID…

Iowa high school trainers miss connection with athletes during COVID…

Jeff Johnson

Iowa Prep Sports 4h ago

Linn and Johnson outpace state in rate of adults completing…

Linn and Johnson outpace state in rate of adults completing…

John McGlothlen

News Apr. 11, 2021 3:41 pm

Sports

Dylan Nedved shows off his two-way prowess as Iowa baseball…

Dylan Nedved shows off his two-way prowess as Iowa baseball…

Jeff Johnson

Sports 4h ago

Metro duo produce for fifth-ranked Louisville baseball

Metro duo produce for fifth-ranked Louisville baseball

K.J. Pilcher

Sports Apr. 11, 2021 5:00 pm

UNI football hangs with, but can’t beat, No. 2 North…

UNI football hangs with, but can’t beat, No. 2 North…

UNI Panther Football Apr. 10, 2021 8:50 pm

Photos: UNI Panthers vs. NDSU Bison

Photos: UNI Panthers vs. NDSU Bison

Gazette Visuals

UNI Panther Football Apr. 10, 2021 8:34 pm

Opinion

Planting Forward: Companies and workers restore trees taken by derecho

Planting Forward: Companies and workers restore trees taken by derecho

Clark McLeod

Opinion Apr. 11, 2021 6:08 pm

Rethinking the rush toward electric vehicles

Rethinking the rush toward electric vehicles

Nicholas Johnson

Guest Columnists Apr. 9, 2021 1:16 pm

The only safe prison is an empty one

The only safe prison is an empty one

Adam Sullivan

Opinion Apr. 9, 2021 8:26 am

Property tax bill includes unwelcome surprises

Property tax bill includes unwelcome surprises

staff editorial

Staff Editorials Apr. 8, 2021 4:04 pm

FOLLOW US

The Gazette is Iowa’s independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage.

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility

Contact Us

  • 116 3rd St SE
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
  • customercare@thegazette.com
  • (319) 398-8333
  • Live Chat

Links

  • Puzzle Answers
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Article Removal Request
  • Archives
  • Green Gazette
  • Corridor Careers Jobs
  • Work at The Gazette
  • Customer Care

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility
Folience A Folience Company