Customs authorities have intercepted more than a 1,000 individual shipments containing almost 20,000 fraudulent driver’s licenses at Chicago O’Hare Airport this year alone. 19,888 fake US driver’s licenses have been caught in smuggling busts at the airport, distributed throughout 1,513 fraudulent shipments.
Fox 5 New York is reporting that the fake ID’s are coming from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the UK.
“These counterfeit driver’s licenses can lead to disastrous consequences,” Customs and Border Patrol’s Ralph Piccirilli said in a statement. “Criminal organizations use these counterfeit IDs to avoid attracting attention to their illegal activities.”
Customs officials have described the fake Chinese ID’s as extremely realistic and well-made, stating that the barcode on the fake documents passes electronic verification checks.
If this many fake ID’s are coming in at one airport alone, there’s a significant possibility that many more fake documents are being smuggled into the country at other airports. It’s entirely unclear what these ID’s are being used for- most of the bars that underage college kids would enter to drink alcohol in are closed. There’s a very real possibility the Chinese-made fake ID’s could be an integral part of an election fraud operation. Even the most strict voter ID states such as Arizona accept a driver’s license as proof of voter registration and eligibility.
Customs officers stationed at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport are reporting that they’ve busted more than 2,000 fake ID’s since 2019, describing a surge in the smuggling of fake driver’s licenses.
