Apr 13

How to Make a Fake ID

Crazy n Funny at 10:58 am Posted in Stories

Although they’ve been around for a while, fake IDs are still a vogue item. Ordering from some seedy site on the internet or from an even seedier guy on the street is an almost sure-fire way to lose money. Here’s how to do it yourself.

The Old-Fashioned Way

There’s a very old-fashioned way of faking identification cards, and it should still work on fairly simple cards that don’t have a lot of security features on them. All it would take is a real ID of someone of the same gender (so at least your ‘name’ would go with the photo) and a small photograph of yourself that’s the same size as the photo on the ID. You would have to slice open the lamination and then carefully cut out the original photo, replacing it with your own.

This method is the one that’s very often described in books or shown in movies, in scenes where the character uses a cutter or a knife on a real ID. Of course, this isn’t applicable in many situations, so you’ll have to adapt quite a bit.

The Digital Way

Governments, banks and private institutions have long wisened up to the practice described above, resulting in the installment of safety features like special artwork on ID cards. They also very often use PVC IDs, both for durability and for security.

To duplicate specialized artwork, you’ll need an example of the real ID and a computer equipped with photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop. You’ll have to scan both sides of the original ID using a very high resolution (about 1200dpi should suffice). Open the scanned image on your computer and then replace the picture and, preferably, the name with your own. The scanning would have gotten any intricate artwork or minute details for you, while the editing software ensures a clean and smooth replacement of the name and picture.

If the ID you want to make is the simple, old kind, you can just print it at a suitable size on a colored printer and then laminate it with some thick plastic. Lamination sheets should be available at any crafts or stationery store. If, however, you want to create a PVC ID, you’ll have to get some suitable material like Teslin, which should be available online or at specialty stores. Using the actual material in PVC IDs would require you to have the same kind of printer, while alternative materials like Teslin are compatible even with ordinary printers.

Using fake IDs is a crime in most places, and establishments are trying their very best to discourage the use of such items. However, individuals will continue developing better ways of faking IDs so long as bars and clubs refuse entry to eager sixteen year olds.