To fake or not to fake: risk assessment of buying fake documents in the US

Фото: Shutterstock

In the United States, any document is up for sale. Swindlers fake passports, green cards, social security numbers, not to mention state IDs and driver’s licenses. ForumDaily has looked into what consequences this might bring for the buyers of counterfeit documents.

Driver’s license for $1,000

Russian woman Tatyana (her name has been changed for the purpose of this article) came to the U.S. from Perm, Russia, in 2013. She currently rents a room in the Russian area of Brooklyn. Back home Tatyana was a beautician. When she started experiencing lack of money, she decided to leave for the United States. Tatyana obtained a U.S. tourist visa and came to New York. When her visa expired, she continued residing in the States illegally. Her status, however, does not prevent her from earning a living.

“I wanted to buy a used car. A Russian seller told me I had to obtain driver’s license first. I was embarrassed to say I am an illegal resident, and started looking for other options,” Tatyana told ForumDaily.

The woman found an online ad offering fake driver’s licenses and IDs. She dialled the number.

“A man speaking broken English promised they would do it. They didn’t have a website, so the man proposed to show the sample documents upon meeting, and mailed me an address of the firm where they make the documents,” the woman says.

It turned out that the clandestine laboratory was in the borough of Queens. Tatyana refused to give the address of the office. She was met by two men, who told her that a fake driver’s license would cost $1,000.

“They showed me how the license would look. It looked decently. The driver’s license was old pattern, as if I received it several years ago. They said the document would be ‘valid’ until 2019. They said I had to make an advance payment of 50%, but I was afraid to and offered them $100. They agreed,” Tatyana says.

In the laboratory, the woman filled out a form with personal data and was photographed. The next day she picked up her fake driver’s license and paid the remaining $900.

“I’ve been driving for six months now. I don’t know what lies ahead, but I haven’t been stopped by police officers a single time. The sellers of the license told me its number is in the database. I just hope it is. Here, it’s different from Moscow, where police patrols are everywhere. So if I don’t violate the rules, I can drive a car without problems,” Tatyana said.

Supply and demand in Brighton Beach

The most popular Russian community of New York, Brighton Beach, has long been known as a place where one can buy anything. Including, rumors say, fake documents. ForumDaily decided to conduct a journalistic experiment and attempted buying an ID there.

We started the search from the Russian stores. After several failed attempts, we are told to ask in a copy center. In one of them, the employees get embarrassed and say they do not do that. In another one, at Brighton Beach Avenue, we finally found what we were looking for.

A female employee met us in the centre and asked, smiling, how she could help us. We told her we wanted to buy an ID. She responded immediately: “Yes, we could do that.” As we keep talking, we find out that they make plastic IDs that serve as an identification document for a person, but those are not fake state IDs.

“We do make ID cards, but those are not state IDs,” the woman says. “However, we call them IDs. All you need is to fill out a form, including your last name, first name, date of birth, colour of eyes and hair, and an address you want in there.”

A picture for this ID can be made on the spot. The ‘document’ costs $33. As we keep talking, the woman acknowledges that this ID has no powers. They call it “an emergency photo card for residents.” Neither banks nor hospitals nor stores nor any other institutions accept them. However, the woman assured many newcomers buy such ID cards.

These ID cards are offered in Brighton Beach. Photo by Denis Cheredov.

So we asked her: then what is this card for? The woman said “Some guys were buying beer [with it]. But I’m not sure you would be able to buy alcohol with our card.”

However, newcomers to the United States who do not know what an original document should look like might as well take these cards for state or some other IDs.

Internet, a paradise for illegal activities

Internet is abundant in offers to make fake state IDs that look just like original ones. Several years ago New York authorities started issuing new type of driver’s license with special protection due to increasing numbers of fake documents. However, it turned out that buying a fake license of the new type online is not a problem anymore.

ForumDaily contacted several companies who offer fake document services online. The fraudsters responded immediately. One of them sent an e-mail in Russian, although the text read more like Google-translated. The person who e-mailed us introduced himself as Denis. He said they charge 3,400 euros for a package of fake documents (social security number, a U.S. passport, a birth certificate, an ID, and a driver’s license). As it turned out, the undercover business is conducted in Spain, hence the price in euros. The bank account to pay to was also in Europe.

Below is the text of the e-mail translated back into English:

Good morning,

I’ve received your e-mail and am happy to inform you that I can help you with getting all the documents that can make your stay in New York smooth and without any problems. The documents I can help you with include:
— driver’s license;
— ID card;
— social security number;
— foreign passport;
— birth certificate.

Pay attention that our documents are valid, genuine, and can be used anywhere in the world without any troubles. Please let me know which ones from the above you need to be made. If you want all of them, we can make the full pack. It will cost you only 3,400 euro and will take 21 days to make, process, register, issue, and deliver to you. If you would like to choose just some of the documents listed above, let us know, we will give you separate quotes for each of them. When you’re ready, let us know, we will provide all details on the process and will start working as soon as possible.

Looking forward to your response so that we can start working a.s.a.p.

Best regards,
Denis

We asked Denis for a New York State driver’s license. He agreed straight away and told us not to worry about the document’s authenticity. Its number would be allegedly entered into the police database, so there would be no problems with it. They would charge us 450 euros, and promised to make the document within six business days and deliver it to our address.

Another company that sells fake documents offered making IDs and driver’s licenses of many states, except for New York. For instance, you can buy Alaska or Florida IDs from them. The prices range between $30 and $1,000. For some $60 you can get a fake international ID from this firm. The business is registered in the Philippines.

Some fraudsters feel so unpunished they upload promo videos online. The videos show them demonstrating ready-to-use fake driver’s licenses and residence permits.

Severe punishment

The U.S. laws stipulate that making and falsification of state documents is as grave crime as selling and distributing drugs, says attorney Tanya Gendelman.

“Everyone who is involved in making of such documents en masse, are the same as drug dealers. So the punishment will be severe,” she says.

Gendelman believes the crime might lead to five to 20 years in prison, sometimes up to 100 years. It often happens in these cases that double indictment takes place: first, a criminal serves a sentence as charged under federal law, and subsequently he or she might be convicted under the state indictment.

A person might be imprisoned for using a fake document as well.

Attorney Tanya Gendelman. Photo courtesy of Tanya Gendelman

“In the state of New York, for instance, a person faces from 15 days up to a year for using fake driver’s license,” says attorney Gendelman.

If an illegal immigrant is caught using a fake green card, he or she faces a deportation and a ban to enter the country for 10 years or for good.

“If a person stays legally in the United States but is charged with using a fake green card, he or she faces a prison and a deportation. It depends on the charges. The terms might differ: from several months to two years,» Tanya Gendelman says.

If a person is caught using fake documents, he or she would need to spend a lot on attorney fees, and the cases are hard to win. The fees range from $10 to $30,000, attorney Yevgeny Meltser says. Meltser lives and works in Illinois. The state’s laws stipulate one to three years in prison for using a fake ID, and a three-year imprisonment and subsequent deportation for using a fake green card.

Meltser’s services are usually sought by Russian-speaking clients who seek political asylum. Some of them come with fake documents. The attorney is able to tell a fake visa or a counterfeit green card straight away. He then talks to his clients preventively, for he has no right to call the police.

Seeking benefits with fake documents

Experts from state agencies are also trained to tell the fake documents. Nevertheless, people often use fake documents to ask for social benefits.

Boris Feldman, employee of the NYC Social Services Department, came here from Moscow back in 1990s. He caught violators red-handed many times as they were trying to apply for welfare benefits using fake green cards. Most of them are Latinos, he says. Former Soviet countries residents are also among them, but only a few.

Last year, a Ukrainian named Dmytro came to see Feldman in his office. He presented an ID — his green card.

“The photograph was kind of glued on top of the document. And the card was so neat and smooth,” Boris says.

Feldman called his colleagues, and together they decided the card was a fake. Dmytro confessed he had bought the document online for $500. The officials filled a protocol of seizing the fake document and passed the case to the special investigation bureau.

“I have no idea where that Dmytro is now. He looked tired, for sure. I think he didn’t have money to hire an attorney. Probably, he has been deported to his home country,” Feldman says.

In late 1990s, employees of Feldman’s agency had the right to detain suspects on spot. But later the migration legislation got more loyal, and the procedure changed.

“Sometimes people bring a Xerox copy of their green card, and I can tell it is a fake. But I have no reasons to call the special department. So I make up a case for them to bring an original document next time, and catch them red-handed,” Feldman says.

Boris can tell a fake document by simply looking at it. The department employees are taught during special trainings. In most cases, fraudsters make a fake document from a stolen or found one. But the green card has a code indicative of its origin. This code can tell how the person received the document. For instance, got married or won the lottery.

Feldman recalls a criminal anecdote from his own practice for that. Once, a Colombian woman came to him with an unbelievable legend.

“She brought her green card with her. I checked the code in the database — it said she received the document on family reunification basis. But the card itself looked suspicious. I asked her how she became a permanent resident of the U.S., and she seriously told me a story about President Nixon who came to Colombia and distributed the cards among the wishful,” Feldman says laughing.

As it turned out, the woman wasn’t aware of the code of her card. The court ruled to deport her home and ban from reentering the United States.

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