Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 19:45:18 -0800
From: spiker <spiker@ev1.net>
Subject: Technology a boon for forged ID industry
Source:
The Nando Times
http://www.nandotimes.com/
Technology a boon for forged ID industry http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/0,1038,500308837-500496033-5034 78886-0,00.html
Copyright 2001 Nando Media Copyright 2001 Scripps McClatchy Western Service
By ED KOCH, Las Vegas Sun LAS VEGAS (February 11, 2001 11:50 a.m. EST
A 14-year-old Las Vegas girl recently took her 21-year-old sister's frayed work card to Metro Police and, because she resembled her older sibling, got it reshot with her photo. That was all the fake identification she needed to get a job at a local strip club.
"Before we solved the case, she was pulling down $1,200 a night in tips," undercover forgery Detective Kim Thomas said, noting the club was in the clear because the fake ID - a work card - was a genuine Metro-issued document.
Such clever scams are nothing new to Thomas. Today's good fake IDs and forged credit cards, he said, are either computer-generated or made from materials secreted from military bases and motor vehicle departments - or a combination of both.
The Internet is brimming with so-called "novelty ID" sites where would-be forgers can download "specimen" cards lifted from books that were published to help merchants tell bogus documents from the real McCoy. http://www.theidshop.com/products.htm
Testimony last year before a U.S. Senate subcommittee indicated about 30 percent of all fake IDs come from the Internet.
On top of that, experts say, today's computer software is so sophisticated it can be used to create ID cards and other counterfeit papers that generate series of numbers that match those of real documents.
Combine the Internet and high-tech software with today's desktop-publishing equipment and relatively inexpensive color copiers and amateur forgers can become professionals pretty quickly.
Metro statistics show that last year local businesses lost at least $1.1 million because of fraud generated by fake IDs and forged credit cards. From July to December, 325 people were arrested by Metro on forgery charges.
"The thing I love about my job is the challenge," Thomas said. "Even my dumbest criminals are smart criminals."
And because the bad guys are getting smarter Metro is going back to school.
"We are in the process of setting up an Internet squad," forgery Sgt. Les Lane said. "We have received a $15,000 grant to help us get started, and we will be sending three of our detectives to a class to learn how to operate a computer to figure out a crime."
Thomas said that while an average bank robbery can net a thief $1,500, a crook who steals someone's identity - a felony in Nevada since October 1999 - can reap $70,000 in goods, services and cash in one weekend.
Forgery detectives, such as the 11 at Metro, operate in a world where huge amounts of stolen revenues are simply written off, hampering law enforcement's efforts to get a handle on how serious the problem is.
"The victim knows that by reporting to the credit-card company that an expense on his statement is not his, he won't be held responsible to pay it," Thomas said. "The company where the merchandise was purchased still gets itsmoney.
"The credit-card issuer makes hundreds of millions of dollars and expects to lose millions (in forgeries), so it is easier to write it off than face the publicity that the company was victimized.
"Generally none of these parties report these crimes to the police. The criminal knows all of this."
And while Thomas says that forgers range in age from teenagers to skilled older craftsmen, local high school students who grew up with computers say they are unfairly singled out as the main culprits.
"It really is not a big problem on this campus," a Western High School computer-class student said, noting that her top Internet priority has been to find the perfect prom dress. "I'm sure it is moderately easy to get a fake ID, but I wouldn't know where to get one."
Several Western students who spoke on condition of anonymity at the request of school officials said the Internet is more of a source for games, audio and movie streamings than for illegal activity.
One senior, however, said that while surfing the Web, he has seen sites that offer templates for fake IDs, mostly from California, Florida and Oregon. That student said he works in a computer store that has trained him to look for fake IDs and credit cards from people purchasing goods.
"You have to be careful because a credit-card charge can always be disputed," the 18-year-old said, noting he has caught two fake credit cards by following store procedures.
Ron Taylor, Western High's Education Computer strategist who oversees the school's computer classes, said installing filters and other safeguards can only do so much to keep students from using the Internet for illegal purposes.
"These kids are smart enough to find the back door to any filter," Taylor said. "That is why any good computer teacher stresses ethics - teaching the kids right from wrong and the consequences of doing wrong."
While Taylor says schools take precautions with their computers - at Western teachers can use their computers to view any Web site the students are looking at - it's often a different story at home.
"I wish Mom and Dad would get more involved when their children use home computers," he said. "The problem is that the kids are computer-literate and their parents are not. That will change when these kids some day have children, because they will know what their kids are doing."
The forgery cases that Thomas and other Metro detectives handle can boggle the mind.
"We have seen incidents where hotel registration clerks, when they get too busy, allow (computer print-out) check-in sheets to run over the top of the counter," Thomas said.
"A man will walk by, tear off the sheet and be gone. He can make $50 to $200 for each check-in, which often includes a name, address and credit-card number."
Another caper that Thomas solved involved a forger who got his data by going to banks and simply grabbing the trash out of the cans beside the counters where people fill out deposit slips or write checks.
Thomas said people who make mistakes often just toss the check or deposit slip into the can, then write a new one. Trash like that netted the criminal $60,000 before he was nabbed, Thomas said.
Also, Thomas said, almost any illegal alien in town ca tell you of a place on Bonanza Road where for $200 you can buy a package consisting of a driver's license, resident-alien card and Social Security card - all good fakes.
"These are the very pieces of identification that are needed to work in our hotel industry," Thomas said, noting that people also can use the IDs to get jobs as independent contractors where taxes are not taken out - and that's where the real scam comes in.
"If these cards are made from stolen identities of living people - and people are working all over the country under those names and Social Security numbers making money and not paying taxes - who do you think the Internal Revenue Service is going to come after for the taxes?" Thomas said.
Because of such devastating financial consequences associated with an identity being stolen, Metro lobbied the Legislature to increase the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony. However, the mere possession of a fake ID is still a misdemeanor.
"We will keep getting smarter, issuing warrants and making arrests," Thomas said. "This is the crime of the future."