Island youth should never use false identification and they should never purchase a fake ID from an internet based provider, says Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Ron MacKinley.
“I’m very concerned that over the past few months staff have discovered an upswing in the number of youth passing false identification they purchased over the internet,” says Minister MacKinley. “This is worrisome because using false identification is against the law, and because youth are giving their personal information away to strangers who may use it in dangerous ways.”
Graham Miner, Registrar of Motor Vehicles, is the first contact when official identification documents, such as drivers licences or voluntary identification cards, are tampered with. Over the past few months he has been involved in more than 10 cases where fraudulent Island drivers licences were found to have been purchased over the internet.
“What they are being offered are fairly high quality documents and the differences are subtle to the untrained eye, so they are attractive to someone who wants a piece of false identification,” said Mr. Miner. “But what youth are failing to realize is that they are providing personal information to unknown and questionable sources, and those sources are very likely using that information for nefarious purposes.”
Miner said that in some cases youth are sending their real drivers licences to these questionable companies in order to get a very authentic looking fake ID created. The consequences of this kind of action could be quite severe since the personal information provided is a gold mine for criminals. There is no way to know how it is being used.
“An organization that creates false documents can never be trusted,” said Mr. Miner. “They may be set up for the sole purpose of gathering personal information like photos, drivers licence numbers, birth dates and addresses.”
Fines for possessing false identification can range from $200 to $1,000. If the identification is involved when fraud or other serious charges are laid, the penalties can be more severe. False identification is usually reported to the department by bar employees, liquor inspectors, police, banks and highway safety staff.