A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKE ID

A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKE ID

BY ONEEYEWILLY
oneeyewilly1@hushmail.com
December 2000

In the recent months there has been an increase in the popularity of fake I.D., due to the media attention of sites on the Internet. Unfortunately the media attention is because of sites that are just flat out scams. These scam sites will either send you nothing or some crap they call a fake id, after receiving your money of course. More and more of these scam sites pop up every day. An old, but effective trick for these scheming webmasters is to offer very high quality samples to be viewed on the site. This trickery is accomplished by stealing the pictures off legitimate sites or by just scanning picture out of the Drivers Licence Guide. This guide is a detailed book of all the current drivers licences for Canada, United States, and Europe. This book can be obtained only by legitimate business and law enforcement. The guide is widely available on the Internet, in scanned page format. In the book each state or province has a page dedicated to it wilth a picture and all of the security features outlined.
Can't trust the Internet you say? Well then what better to do than make you own I.D.
Producing your own I.D. can get complicated fast depending on what type of security features the I.D. you're tying to duplicate has. This guide will help you identify what is needed to beat these features.

TYPES OF IDENTIFICATION

When referring to ID, one could be talking about numerous documents. I will be concentrating on Provincial/State ID's and Drivers Licences in this guide. However the techniques can be used to forge just about any documents of interest. Years ago a drivers licence was usually security paper that was laminated and maybe a hologram (Those were the days). Now due to the advances in technology and the reduction of price that come with that, new measures had to be taken to deter forgery.

Almost all the id's these days are now made out of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). If you have ever seen a credit card this is what PVC is. These new PVC cards can only be printed on using very expensive printers like Fargo or Electron. This is meant to make it hard for counterfeiters, but like anything else there are ways around this with out spending 5-10 grand on a printer.

NOW TO THE GOOD STUFF

An ID can be made from scratch or you can save some time by finding templates available on the Internet. In simple terms, basically a template is the id saved on you computer ready to be printed then laminated. The very best program for making id is now Adobe Photoshop 6. The templates you will find on the net are usually saved in .psd (photoshop) format. These templates vary in quality, but there are good ones out there. However the only way to insure quality is to make one yourself. Making a template is not easy and takes a decent amount of photoshop experience. The best way to learn is to experiment yourself.
To make a template you can either scan the id at a high resolution and edit it from there, or, to make a higher quality one what you need to do is do it by hand measuring every line and doing the artwork yourself. This method is not for the absolute beginner but like I said you need to try. Once the template is complete with your info on it then it can be printed.

PRINTING MATERIALS

Depending on the ID you're making you will need to select the right material to print on.
If it is a laminated ID then photo paper will be best. If you are making a PVC ID, then you would use a product called TESLIN. This material is fairly new and is an excellent, cost effective way to forge PVC ID's. This material can be printed by laser or inkjet printers. There is a difference between inkjet and laser Teslin. Obviously the laser Teslin is for laser printer and same with the inkjet. Printing on Teslin with an inkjet does not work well so inkjet Teslin is for this. The inkjet is coated with chemicals to absorb the ink effectively. Once printed on and laminated, Teslin becomes almost exactly like PVC. More information on Teslin can be found at www.teslin.com and can be purchased at www.idsupply.com.

LAMINATION

After your template is printed out on what ever material, it needs to be laminated.
Like everything else the type of lamination varies depending on the material you are laminating.
For normal paper or photo paper, you can get pouches in different thicknesses or mils. A good thickness to work with is 10 mil. To laminate Teslin you need butterfly pouches for Teslin.
Laminating pouches also come in different varieties. You can get ones that are glossy or that are matte. Also they come with hi or low co magnetic strips. Lamination can be found at www.idsupply.com. A good decent laminator is a must for the id hobbyist. My personal preference is the Docuseal 40 available for about 40 bucks.

HOLOGRAMS

There are various methods used to create the holograms that are implemented on ID's.

Depending on the color of the hologram and its properties different paints and inks can be used.
There is another fairly new product out that I can't say enough about called Photo-EZ.

This product is for making stencils. A stencil is basically the outline of a picture with the negative part missing. To make the stencil you scan the hologram off your id, then convert it to an all black image. Next you print the image on a transparency. A transparency is a transparent sheet of plastic meant for inkjet printers or lasers. Then you take the transparency and tape it to the Photo-EZ. You put it out in the sun and all the areas of the material not covered by the black negative of the holo cures. When washed the part covered by the negative washes away, leaving you with your stencil. You will want to order the high resolution material. This product can be ordered from www.cbridge.com and more information can be found there.
As for the painting material, the two main ones are Interference Gold (Fine) made by Golden Acrylics and PERL-EX DUOTONE. The latter of the materials work best because of the fact it reflects two colors of the spectrum. Perl-Ex comes as a powder and preparation is needed. These paints are transparent when viewed from straight on. When viewed from different angles you see different colors depending on the particular colors of the paint. Perl-Ex comes in Duo Red-Blue, Duo Blue-Green, and Duo Green-Yellow. Perl-Ex is available in a lot of places here is one: www.sierra-enterprises.com/pearlex.htm
You have to buy a Transparent Base made for paints to prepare the Perl-Ex. A good one is Speedball Transparent Base. You mix in a 1:50 ratio. 1 part Per- 50 parts base. If you are using Golden acrylics then you use a 5:1 ratio. 5 parts paint 1 part base. When applying the paint in the stencil, you should use if possible one of those brushes made for screen printing. It is like a pencil but with a flexible tip. A sponge can be used but extra care needs to be taken when applying. You want to apply a very thin amount and practice will be needed to get it right.
On a lot of the new ID's there is a multicolored hologram that reflects the full spectrum (like a rainbow). This is especially true of most of the Canadian ids. What you do is pick the two most dominant colors and buy the matching Perl Ex colors. This will be good enough to reproduce the holo. The holo can be put directly on the finished ID or before lamination on the inside of the pouch. If you choice is the inside then remember to put it in the reverse.

CONCLUSION

Making an ID takes practice and you will go through quite a few mistakes but eventually it can be mastered. The best way is just to try and also read everything you can get your hands on like everything else. Like anything else there are places available to find out more. You can go to #fakeid on Dalnet with IRC. I stress that you read everything you can before asking "how can I make a fake ID" in the chat rooms. You will just get ignored because it can't be explained in a few sentences.