Fake Licenses on the Rise

Since at least the year 2000, email scams have circulated around the net for the selling of International Driver Licenses. The authors explained that with their documents buyers could avoid having to pay traffic tickets as well as allowing them to establish new identities for hotel check-ins or bar entrance (if the buyers are underage). Lately these offers have put on weight.

Yesterday, I came across such an ad; it was in French and promoted a site offering a replacement driver license in place of a regular one:

Due to its name of (backdoordl), the website aroused my curiosity. I followed the link and, one thing leading to another, I discovered the extent of this fraud.

At backdoordl, I found a professional website divided into three areas: French, German and English.

In the UK area, I recognized text that was similar to what I first saw in French:

Have you lost your existing licence? No problem! Can’t remember the details? No problem! Need a clean licence? No problem! Need motorcycle, car, bus, hgv entitlement? No problem! Over 65? No problem! Medical problems? No problem!

There are 110 models of drivers licences in current use throughout the European Union, that’s not to mention drivers licences issued outside of the EU that are still accepted for exchange in different EU countries. This service is directed at any resident or non-resident of the United Kingdom or EU that wishes to obtain a full driving licence without any tests. So no matter what country you are a resident or citizen of, they claim they can help. Even if you live outside of the UK or EU! Once you have a driving licence through them, you can exchange it in your own country for a local licence. EU driving licences are accepted ‘as is’ worldwide for driving and exchange. It does not matter what nationality you are!

The office address, undoubtedly fake, written into the contact page was in the UK. There was no phone number; they said it would be provided only to clients who ordered. Despite some inconsistencies here and there, it was also explained the company did not accept any postal contact.  Because photo and signature were needed to create the new driving license, they had to be scanned by the buyer and then sent via email.

The registrar was ENOM Inc. and registration details protected via “WhoisGuard” service thus masking the true identity of the domain-name registrant and preventing public access to that information through its (and any) WHOIS database.

Getting on with my searches, I discovered the backdoordl site was not unique. Almost half a dozen nearly exact copies were also easily available online:

Domain registrants’ WHOIS information is also hidden or made with seemingly bogus data.

At backdoordl and its clones, prices seem consistent: £359 GBP or 399 Euros with payment encouraged via Western Union. There are two ways to obtain the documents:

First way is to exchange your current driving licence, you complete our application form and we print it out and translate some of your driving licence and translate the application form, put it all together and apply for an EU licence. This is a way to obtain driving categories that you select on the application form as the foreign issuing authority will look at the translation and not the licence.
The second way is to make a declaration that your licence has been lost/mislaid/stolen in a certain country that we know about. No other proof that you have even passed a test is required, just your sworn declaration. They will issue you with a temporary driving licence which we can then get translated and exchanged for an EU licence. SNEAKY? Yes, but Illegal? We have been advised NO.

Announced license process is said to take approximately 21 days.

I also discovered this language localization was not unique. During further searches, I found the AldaLegal offer and its clone, DLtransfer. Here too, these crocks speak your language. Sites are not only available in French, German, English, but also in Spanish and Chinese.

Here, the offer is better rounded and not limited to European Community:

For both sites, the company address written at the contact bottom pages is the same: in Australia (215 Harris St., Sydney NSW 2009). Using Google I got hold of a Word document at the bottom of a directory path: a standard letter perhaps used by the guy behind this rip-off. It would appear they also offer help for illegal immigration.

 

Finally, two other sites attracted me: eudriverlicence and licencetoday. Here too, the seller expresses himself without restraint:

They clearly explain the two ways to obtain such a license. As before, with the first one the buyer has to provide partial information of his actual license. As result, crocks promise an EU Driver License coming from one of the following countries: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovenia. The price is around 400 Euros.

With the second way, for applicants who do not or cannot submit any license details (only scanned photo and signature via email), the sites explain they can apply outside the European Union (Africa or a South American country):

All you need to do is check box A “Outside the E.U. Temporary Drivers Licence” on the application form and by ticking the box you declare you have had your licence lost/mislaid/stolen. Then by submitting the application along with further forms, which we submit, we can then obtain a temporary driving licence.

Here a 100 Euros extra-service cost is applied. In this case the total cost becomes 500 Euros.

These sites are not fully duplicated, but the texts look very similar. One company is Martin and Benn Associates. Its address is said to be in Gibraltar (Victoria House, 26 Main St.). The other is said to be in Germany.

At fraudwatchers, a contributor in Gibraltar went down to the alleged offices of Martin and Benn Associates. He didn’t find it, neither in the building, nor in the Gibraltar telephone book. To prove this, he provided the following picture:

The risks are numerous in a story like this. The first one: You are not assured to receive this document. For sure, your bank account will be debited, but getting the license in return is less certain. And fear the worst for your personal data (plus your photo, plus your signature) that you will send to these guys. This information would be perfect for making forged papers.

Depending on regional laws, it may or may not be legal for these companies to produce such documents and to sell them to you, but it may not be legal for you to carry them, or to use them as a driving license. At the drivers.com website, they provide the truth:

• An International Driving Permit is merely a translation of your regular driver’s license into almost a dozen languages.
• It is not a driver’s license by itself.
• You must still carry a valid, regular license from your country, even if you are also carrying an IDP.
• Yes, the United Nations created a treaty, now signed by about 150 countries, but the IDP is not a license by itself. It is mainly to help police read licenses written in other languages.
• You must purchase an IDP in your country of residence.
• You must have a legal license from your country of residence in order to get an IDP.
• No, you cannot use the IDP as a “license” inside your country of residence.
• No, you do not get a new, separate driving record with an IDP. They cannot be used to hide violations or tickets: These are still recorded on your regular driver’s license.
• Most countries authorize only certain organizations to sell IDPs. Check with your local government driver’s license authority.
• In the USA, only two organizations are allowed to sell real, legal IDPs: the American Automobile Association (enter your location carefully), and the American Automobile Touring Alliance, which offers IDPs through the National Automobile Club.
• In Canada, the only authorized distributor of legal IDPs is the CAA. Canadian IDPs are not valid in the USA.
• In the USA and Canada, the cost of a real IDP is about $10.

Being French, only one question left for me as I ended this post: Why do all these guys write ”licence” with two “c’s”? I found the response in my dictionary: In the UK, “licence” is the noun and “license” is the verb. In American English, however, the noun is also spelled license. Another lead for the police .