The Online False Identification Industry
66The subject of false identification (online or offline) is one of deep interest in many quarters--especially since, as Donald Trump has recently pointed out, President Obama himself still hasn't produced a valid birth certificate. Industry captains want to know they're hiring the people they think they're hiring from the lowest level to the highest, yet America's Commander in Chief may be nothing but a con man slick enough to fool an entire national electorate?
What's wrong with that picture?
It's likely that if young Barry Soetoro did obtain phony credentials to reemerge as Barack Hussein Obama, he had plenty of skilled criminal help. That's a given.
But what about Joe Blow? Neither you nor I could pull off a switcheroo like that, could we? Or...is even that possible with the click of an Internet button these days?
This enquiring mind decided to find out.
I determined to do just one Internet search--that is, just one set of keywords using just one search engine--and see what popped up.
The keyword set: "FALSE IDENTIFICATION SCAM"
The search engine: Yahoo.
Don't ask me why I put "scam" in there; "How to obtain false ID" would have made more sense. Brain fart, most likely. But once I'd done it...and saw the results...I decided to stick with "False identification scam" for now.
Guess what? There are websites openly offering to make up a false ID for you or (alternatively) to teach you how to make your own.
True, they might all turn out to be federal sting sites; who knows?
The sites I studied will be identified only as Sites A through D here; there's no point in promoting them. What they have to say, however, is either intriguing or disturbing--depending on how you look at it. Personally, I'd go with disturbing, since my wife and I live near the Mexican border and are keenly aware of the many illegal immigrants trekking ever northward...some, no doubt about it, with false identification documents in hand.
Site A: No One Can Touch The Quality Of Our Fake Id's!
Attends The Largest Hacker's Convention In The World!
Our Hologram Will Make Your Fake or Novelty ID More Secure!
Ironically, this site and others seem quite eager to differentiate their work from those horrible scammers who merely take your money and then send your "Fake ID" which is simply a piece of paper stamped "FAKE ID". It took a while to quit laughing after I read that one, i.e. the Fake ID place being so worried you might think they were...well...fake! And goodness gracious me, we must make our fake (or ha-ha novelty) ID more Secure, for sure!
"Bring me a Fake ID, Johnny. No, idiot, the one under the counter, the good stuff, the REAL Fake ID! And don't forget the freaking hologram like you did last time, either; my previous Fake ID went all insecure and snarky on me!"
Site A's graphics appear to be promoting (as much as anything else) phony documents for those underage drinkers who'd like to get served at the bar and/or the liquor store. Not that even the best ID always works in those cases. At a small house party (at our house) in Belgrade, Montana, circa 1966, we ran out of vodka one fine night. Bill and I headed down to the liquor store for another bottle...but neither of us had ever purchased from that fine establishment. The night clerk took one look at us and said, hey, no way.
We pulled our valid Montana driver licenses. The clerk still said no way.
It probably didn't help that we looked a bit like each other and that each of us was 22 years of age, but still....two unhappy campers!
===========================================================
Site B: A Beginner's Guide to Fake ID.
Okay, that makes sense, sort of. You'd pretty much have to be a beginner if you're toodling around online, trying to figure out this mostly illegal fake ID stuff using a computer that can be traced to your very fingertips by a simple little cookie, wouldn't you? One would think so!
==========================================================
Site C: WARNING Never pay for your ID cards to companies that only accept cash. Companies that also accept credit card through a secure site is the only companies are safe way to pay. There are currently several well designed web sites that will take your payment and not deliver a product.
This one was...interesting. It purports to match ID cards for any state in the Union. So I hauled out my Arizona driver's license, compared it visually to the site's Arizona fake ID example. My best guess after doing so is, yeah, you might use it to order a beer if you're underage...but it wouldn't fool any but a truly nearsighted cop for more than about a millisecond.
The most intriguing aspect didn't have to do with the quality of their cards, though. It had to do with that WARNING statement. Only deal where you can give them your credit card info, right? Valid credit card info, of course, not fake credit card info. Duh.
But there's no recognizable "secure" logo (like SSL or VeriSign,, for example) showing on the site! So either they're (a) as stupid as they believe the public to be, (b) crooks, (c) feds who don't much care if your data gets compromised, or (d) aliens from the Planet Securemyass.
I vote for (b) crooks. Note the warning's sentence structure. The writer's native language is clearly not English, always an Early Warning Sign tagging a likely scammer.
Ah! That's why I searched for "False Identification Scam"! This be are one! (They may all be, for all I know--but this one leaves very little room for doubt.)
Site D: Steps Toward Creating A False Identity.
This site is, in my opinion, either a very good federal sting or a very serious approach to false ID. Why do I say this? Okay, that opening subheading is the first clue. The second tipoff is that the opening page goes to great lengths to stress that creating a false ID for any illegal purpose is, duh, illegal as Hell and to be avoided at all costs.
Yeah, they say that...while simultaneously pointing out all the fun you could have with such a cool piece of plastic. Like, you know, convincing people you were twins just for the fun of it, or, I don't know, becoming a famous Hollywood actor and creating your own legend, maybe.
So: They're stressing over and over and over that you need to stay legal, and now, would you like your phony ID with fries and biggie sized? Thank you! Sign in!
SUMMARY: Before closing out this Hub, I switched over to Google and searched "Obtaining False ID"--and pulled up 2,850,000 results. Okay...but how many people are actually searching for identification cards, new or old, false or real? It took a while, thinking it through, experimenting with Google's Traffic Estimator tool...but in the end, I found it.
Just two letters: ID. Punched that in.
30,400,000 Global Monthly Searches! 6,120,000 Local Monthly Searches!
Looks like "just a few" folks out there "looking", eh? It'll be interesting, if this page eventually gets ranked on Google, to see how many of those searches this way come.
CommentsLoading...
What a world we live in. Maybe Obama should have availed himself of these services. That way he could have produced a birth certificate stating he was born in Hawaii.
Fred - Just point me in the direction where I can get me one of those photo shopped certificates of live birth. Which way do I go Fred? Which way do I go?
Masterful. If I ever get less you'll hear about it pal.
The Frog
Cally: I'd have to research the numbers, but I do know that any personal health data, identification, etc., has always been produced pretty promptly over the years for any President prior to Obama. In most cases, there's absolutely no question in the first place about where a person running for the White House was born. When there has been--such as in John McCain's place, him having been born in the Panama Canal Zone--any questions have been dealt with up front from the beginning.
In Obama's case specifically, also, it's an awful lot more than JUST the birth certificate issue that raises serious questions, though the birth cert serves as the "tip of the spear". That is, his college records have been suppressed, there are no records We the People have been allowed to see that indicate he ever published when he was heading up the Haravard Law Review (which is beyond unusual), etc. etc. etc.
In other words, he remains more than a bit of a "mystery man" to the general public.
Which is seriously disturbing to any thinking American. It just doesn't happen that way for any other politician. Take Sarah Palin, for instance: Her college transcripts from every school she ever attended as she worked her way through school have been scrutinized by the media attack dogs to the nth degree.
But not Obama's. And a whole lot of us want to know why.
As far as the newspaper announcements of their birth: Seeing those online is hardly proof--it wouldn't even take a particularly serious counterfeiter to fake those. I, along with Trump and a few million others, would like to see the official birth cert with embossed seal from the state of Hawaii. Hell, man, I couldn't even have obtained a social security number, driver's license, or passport without showing mine!
As for the FBI, CIA, and Secret Service: Competence or the lack thereof is probably not the issue. Let's break it down:
1. The FBI is not going to investigate unless they have orders to do so. Bush didn't give any order like that when he was lame-ducking it as far as we know, and now the Bureau works for Obama. See the problem here?
2. Ditto for the CIA--plus, the CIA is primarily focused on spy threats. A Manchurian President might well be of some interest to them, but they, too, understand where their bread is buttered. Let's not forget that the President appoints THEIR Director, too.
3. The Secret Service exists to protect the President, NOT to investigate him.
Pop: Maybe. Not necessarily one that would have stood up to scrutiny, though.
Frog: Word is, you can get one of those photo shopped certs at your nearest Community Organizer's office, but borrow a truck to run down to Chicago--one that doesn't have those NRA Life Member stickers on it.
Fred - I reckon I can always ask The Donald where he got his for his LSM set-up. Ya think?
There's a thought.
The reason so many Americans are suspicious of Obama is because he has suppressed a lot of information and the main stream media never vetted him.
In other words, we know virtually nothing about him, and that is intentional.
The only 'evidence' that he was born in Hawaii is a couple of newspaper birth announcements listing his grandparents' address, and, as someone pointed out, it was common practice for grandparents to post a birth announcement in their home town paper about a grandchild born in another city or even another country.
His paternal great aunt has stated that he was born in Kenya, and that she was there.
There is reason to wonder.
Good Grief, our world is a mess! Thank god for people like you who bring the truth to light. Great Hub! :)
AEvans - You know the old saying I'm sure. "The truth shall set you free." That always works for me. The Ghost tells it like it is.
Will: What you said.
AEvans: True enough, the planet is a tad wrinkled around the edges at the moment.
Jim: The mystery may have just solved itself--could be "telling it like it is"...is what left The Ghost white as a sheet? LOL!
Very Interesting.
It is, isn't it?
I loved your picture. Scared by your article.
Your comment got me to read this again--had forgotten exactly what the article had to say!
Yep. Guess that could be a bit scary...:)
cally2 13 months ago
Just a question about your first paragraph. Not being an American, I was wondering how many Presidents previous to Obama have publicly produced their birth certificates? Or the newspaper announcements of their birth? I've seen both online for Obama.
Of course it is fairly straightforward to fake an ID. But wouldn't your FBI, CIA or Secret Service have noticed? Or are they really as incompetent as the rest of the world believes?