Chinese Fake ID Maker Shuts Down
By Jennifer Scholtes, CQ Staff
One of the main China-based websites selling fake IDs appears to have permanently ceased business Friday, less than a week after Senate lawmakers asked Chinese officials to put an end to companies making counterfeits.
Employees at the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License noticed Friday afternoon that the homepage of the popular IDchief.ph website displayed only a “closed for business” announcement.
“We are stopping the website and novelty ID service,” the post said. “We do not like criminals and do not think we are bad people . . . we just try to help the poor student have fun.”
On Monday, Illinois Sens. Mark Steven Kirk and Richard J. Durbin senta letter along with Iowa Sens. Charles E. Grassley and Tom Harkin to Zhang Yesui, China’s ambassador to the United States. The letter asked China to shut down companies selling fake IDs, saying lawmakers are concerned that the fraudulent documents “will get into the hands of terrorists that can use them to circumvent our security infrastructure in their plot to harm our country.”
Brian Zimmer, president of the nonprofit Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License, said in a written statement Friday that the senators took the right step in seeking the help of the Chinese ambassador.
“It is clear that action soon followed in China leading to an abrupt end to the menace of hundreds of thousands of counterfeit IDs flooding this country,” Zimmer said.
Fake IDs coming from China are often as high-tech as the real thing, containing holograms and markings visible under black light. Government Accountability Office director Stephen M. Lord warned this summer that fake IDs from China are increasingly realistic and easy to come by.
Officials from the Transportation Security Administration have told Congress in recent months that they worry about the accuracy of the visual checks currently used to verify the authenticity of IDs at airport checkpoints and have started piloting machines to read identification documents.


