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HOME ! ARCHIVES ! FIGHTING FAKES: ONE IN FOUR FRAUDS FOUND
ARCHIVES
Fighting fakes: One in four frauds
found
BY ARCHIVES OCTOBER 25, 2013
By Reis Thebault, Campus Editor
Part 2 of Fake It Till You Make It
OF THE 21 PERCENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO ADMITTED TO HAVING A FAKE ID,
OVER ONE IN FOUR REPORTED GETTING CAUGHT, ACCORDING TO A 2010 STUDY BY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AND THE MIDWEST ALCOHOLISM RESEARCH CENTER.
(KATIE TAYLOR, KYLE HAYDEN | THE MIAMI STUDENT)
After Miami sophomore *Jerry Graham strolls condently to the bar, he nudges his way past
throngs of buzzed students and motions to his friends; he wants to take shots. With the blue band
on his right wrist and the fake Illinois drivers license he used to get it, Graham feels invincible.
However, there is a nearly one in three chance that he and the convincing, computer-generated
fake ID will be found out.
Getting Caught
Methods of fake ID obtainment and use in underage college students, a 2010 University of
Missouri and the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center (MARC) study, shows about 29 percent
of those who use fakes have reported being caught.
Ofcer Greg Moore of the Oxford Police Department (OPD), said students often have only a
partial understanding of laws regarding fake ID use.
Students dont realize the gravity of a conviction for ctitious identication, they just know
theyre going to get an ID so they can go up and drink trashcans at Brick Street and they dont
realize that having a conviction for a fake ID, how is that going to look to a future employer?
Moore asked rhetorically. It shows dishonesty.
Moore added that the Oxford legal system takes the students intentions into account and that in
other places, there could be far heavier charges.
College towns are different, theyre just different, Moore said. A lot of times a ctitious ID is
used for nefarious purposes, as you know, whether it be for voter fraud, whether it be for
terrorism. This is for drinking underage and it is treated as such. But if you just look at the face
of it, it is actually a very serious crime.
MUPD Detective Walt Schneider said that on a federal level, the consequences of organizing an
order of ctitious IDs are even graver.
The federal charges on it are so much higher for ordering or facilitating an order, Schneider
said. Its a mandatory 10-year prison sentence if youre convicted of ordering or facilitating an
order of fake IDs for somebody.
There is also an important difference between IDs like Grahams, which students order from
someone that manufactures ctitious IDs and a valid ID that is passed down to someone.
The law draws a faint line between ctitious IDs and valid ones obtained from a relative or a
friend. In Ohio state law, both violations, possessing an altered or ctitious ID and using an ID
that is not ones own, fall under statute code 4507.30. However, it is considerably harder to
charge someone who is found with a valid ID.
If you have somebody elses ID, and its a valid ID, we have to actually prove that you were
using it for that purpose, Moore said. Basically, around here, if youre caught with a valid ID
that is not yours, it just happens to be your cousin, who looks a little bit like you and is three
years older, unless we see you presenting that as yourself, you will not be charged.
This difculty may account for the low numbers of people in the Oxford area charged with
violating state statute code 4507.30. According to OPD records, there have been just 124 charges
since 2001.
However, these statistics do not reect anyone who has had their record sealed, as a sealed
charge is removed from the OPD system and therefore is not accounted for in these statistics.
Moore also acknowledged that the police apprehend far more people with fake IDs than those
who actually are charged.
We dont always catch all the fake IDs, Moore said. But if we get six underage arrests in one
night, well probably come away with four or ve IDs.
Moore said they would probably catch even more underage students if the bars conscated every
fake ID they nd.
The bars are supposed to collect them, Moore said. Some of them do, then they turn them in
and we get a stack, which tells me there is a much larger stack out there.
According to Miami junior and doorman at The Woods *Derek Johnson, The Woods turns
away fake IDs at an alarming rate.
Probably every ten minutes and probably more than that, Johnson said.
However, Johnson said that he and his coworkers, because they lack the formal training in
spotting fake IDs, they do not feel comfortable seizing an ID that they arent condent is fake.
We dont really do anything at the bar, we just turn them away and dont let them in, Johnson
said. We technically could take them, but since we havent been formally trained, we play it
safe and turn them away. If they keep coming back trying to use it, then we let the managers
know and they will come out and take them away.
Graham and other students are aware that most bars will not conscate IDs, and that even if they
do, the police will not follow up on these IDs. This low risk leads to students asking themselves,
Why wouldnt I use a fake ID?
Changing Technology
Back in the day, and Ive seen it all change in my time here, Moore said. Ive been here 23
years. Back in the day it was a Polaroid camera and what you would do is youd have to stand 30
yards away to get the picture small enough and then you would basically cut it up and make a
license.
ID manufacturers, both locally and overseas, mostly in China, have come a long way since the
days of manually cutting and pasting paper.
Its amazing how good these licenses are, amazing, Moore said. And they do it all
computerized now and the print quality, its just fantastic and you make some really darn good
licenses.
To counteract these realistic IDs, Moore is advocating that all bars be required to have an ID
scanner at the door. However, this is something that Schneider pointed out will not catch the best
fakes.
You order these IDs and you run them through a card swipe and now theyre going to read what
the ID says, Schneider said. So with the technology now, people are doing it and programming
these cards so when you swipe it, it reads that data. It tells you the persons name, the date of
birth, everything thats written on the card.
Of course, that kind of quality comes at a high cost.
Depending on where you go, its anywhere from $225 to $150, Schneider said. But you
usually get two, with the same state same stuff, so if you get busted tonight, you can try a
different bar tomorrow night.
This, however, is not always the case.
Connor Galvin is a sophomore and an acquaintance of Grahams. One drunken night and a run-in
with the police in his rst semester of college persuaded him to take it easy the rest of the year.
I was blackout drunk, Galvin said. I was in my room and the door didnt shut and my
Resident Assistant (RA) heard me puking in a bucket and she opened the door and since the RAs
have to call the police if youre puking, she called the police.
As is procedure, the MUPD ofcer looked through his wallet, where Galvin had a 21-year old
drivers license.
I was really intoxicated and it was a Michigan 21-year old ID, he had brown hair, I have blonde
hair, Galvin said.
However, luckily for Galvin, it was a valid ID and he
was not charged.
It was a real ID so I was able to say that I found it and I was returning it, Galvin said.
Galvin did not for a second think about going out the next night.
It was an eye-opening experience, Galvin said. When you see what can actually happen, you
see that those decisions can follow you the rest of your life. I am more conscious and aware now
so thats why Im glad I learned my lesson so early.
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Unlike Galvin however, many Miami students, Graham included, continue to ood Uptown and
nearby liquor stores with fake IDs. There are so many that police said they cannot expect to
completely eliminate the problem.
Keep it under control, thats whats realistic, Moore said. Would I like to stop it? Hell yeah.
Can I stop it? Hell no. Try and control it.
*Name changed to protect source from legal or employment ramications.
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