Ordering Fake IDs Online?

[Sorena]

Hey everyone,

I have a cousin who is under 19 in Canada and wants a false ID to go clubbing, but is worried about sending money over to this European company for a crappy id...or worse, nothing. Do you think this website is a scam? Anyone have any experiences with this website?

http://www.noveltyidfactory.com

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Sorena

[Daneel]

Lets see...

Hosted in Hong Kong.
Domain registered by someone in Denmark.
No proper contact details on the site.

They say it well themselves:
No site operating in the USA or Canada offer what we do, pure and simple fact, and if they did would be shut down in a matter of days. The ONLY sites that exist in the USA or Canada are pure scams. Ask anyone you know who has ordered online and not one will say they received one they can use from a site in the USA or Canada.

And the only thing they accept as payment method is Western Union, a favorite tool of scammers and others who wish to remain anonymous.
Why not PayPal? Again try and understand, do you not think we would if we could? PayPal's policy forbids us to use their payment system- read it for yourself. No site that produces anything close to our quality will ever accept PayPal.

Can I send you cash? No. It makes no sense to send cash which is risky when we accept Western Union.

And, they offer fake IDs for "novelty purposes" :lol:

You run a big risk buying anything from them. But, buying a fake ID for the purpose you describe is probably (?) not legal anyway. Don't be like that man who complained to the police that someone sold him drugs of bad quality :)

From that site as well:
Can I get into bars with your novelty cards? NO, that is illegal and we do not respond to such questions or we would be liable for any misuse you use our products for.

[EDIT] And here it is pretty much confirmed as a scam:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff174999.htm

[Aeval]

I will add a little bit to what Daneel has already said.

Purchasing a forged ID is a crime in every civilized country I've ever been to. Canada happens to be one of them.

Sending money to an overseas based company and having doubts about their legitimacy is the least of your cousin's problems. His main problem happens to be the fact that he is attempting to purchase a forged identification document.

You might want to suggest to your cousin that he should be somewhat more worried about his local law enforcement finding out about his ID escapades, rather than about getting his money's worth from this company.

[poirot]

This is a bit like pirate warez software widely advertised by scammers through spam. You shouldn't be buying pirate software in the first place but with these scammers, they don't actually sell warez. Why should they risk the wrath of Microsoft when they don't have to, and they can keep their profit margin at 100%.

The scheme is quite simple. You send them money via Western Union and they keep the money without supplying anything. That's it!

[Sorena]

Yes he knows all the consequences and everything, but is it so certain that no one gets their ID? I'm sure tons of suckers order from noveltyidfactory everyday in the world... does he not send ANYTHING?

Has anyone here bought an ID from them before and not gotten it?

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Arrowhead]

Another angle on this site could be that it's phishing for personal information.

What better way to do identity theft than this could you think of?

The scammers get enough personal information to make up a driver license for you, including your picture, and you pay to give it to them.

Double-scam!

Do your cousin a favor and tell him to wait until he grows up to go "clubbing." We have quite enough teenage drinking now, as it is.

[Daneel]

Good point.

We have no idea if this guy sends anything, if anyone here bought anything from him then he/she would hopefully be smart enough not to admit it. What we know is listed above. My personal experience tells me that this website is definitely a ripoff or scam of some kind, either way, I don't think you or you're cousin is going to get what you're looking for. That's what advice I have to give.

And usually we try to stick to the right side of the law here, however ineffective it may be at times. We just can't go around advising people on how to break it ;) sorry.

[Nyla]

Just to reiterate, do NOT mess around with fake IDs. Buying, selling, creating or using. I don't care how much the seller protests they are for "novelty" use only. Especially if the purchase or forgery crosses state or international borders. The authorities have lost any sense of humor they once had about such things in this age of worries over terrorist attacks and the like.

I work in the Information Technology field. One of our employees was foolish enough to allow his daughter almost exclusive use of an employer-owned laptop. His daughter used said laptop, primarily, to create fake IDs, for use by underage college students who wanted to go clubbing, drinking and the like. Needless to say, the users of said IDs were soon caught and charged. They did not get off scott free for simply letting police know where they got the goods.

She and her father are currently being investigated, he may be looking at disciplinary action and the complete ruination of his professional career, and frankly, she may be facing quite a long stint in FEDERAL prison. Yes, MANY YEARS in FEDERAL prison. Because some of the IDs she forged were out of state. Which made this investigation fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. Who alerted Homeland Security that some of Dad's professional activities and baby girl's studies abroad brought them into close contact with communities of interest. They are currently having every aspect of their life inspected by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security under a microscope, and these organizations are going over that laptop with a fine tooth comb.

Trust me, in this day and age, you do not want to get caught with a fake identification document. There may have been a time when the police looked at such things as high-spirited teenage/college pranks, or as a rite of passage. That time is long past. Your cousin could find himself staring down a judge and trying to explain why he felt it necessary to be involved in the commission of a federal crime for the sake of clubbing. And I'm betting the judge won't laugh it off. Or worse, the prosecutor might try to argue that your cousin actually created the forgery.

Being scammed out of money for a "novelty" ID is the least of his/her worries. Unless you enjoy being investigated by people who know how to take your life apart piece by piece and make something out of everyone you said "hello" to in the past ten years, I would suggest not inviting trouble by ordering a novelty ID from any source, "trustworthy" or not. I'm sure the people running this site would really not care if their shoddy work led to your cousin spending some time with a roommate or three in a very small cell.