A Chinese company is allegedly flooding the US with fake driver's licenses which law enforcement officers say are difficult to detect,according to a media report. To the naked eye - even the practiced eye of most bartenders and police officers - the counterfeits look perfect. The photo and physical description are real. So is the signature. The address may be,too. The holograms are exact copies,and even the bar code can pass unsophisticated scans,The Washington Post reported. Just wire money to "the Chinese guy." "He's like some sort of genius in China," a 19-year-old said. "Every kid in Annapolis has one of his licenses." "It was USD 300 if you just wanted one" license,she said. "It was USD 200 [each for two and USD 75 [each if you wanted more than 20." One could pick from a list of about 10 states,she said. "I heard that the Pennsylvania license was the best one." The "Chinese guy" - whose e-mail address is passed around on college campuses and among high school kids - is actually a Chinese company that mails untold thousands of fake driver's licenses to the United States. They have been turning up in states from coast to coast,the Post said. "We're seeing these false IDs being generated from the same source out of China," said Steven Williams,chief executive of Intellicheck,which supplies detection equipment to US federal agencies,law enforcement and businesses. The "Chinese guy" operation has been linked to a company called PARTiTek that is based in Nanjing,China,the report said. The IDs have shown up in various states,each license carrying a mysterious hidden tip-off in the bar code that points directly to the same Chinese company,the report said. This year,federal authorities in Chicago intercepted thousands of fake licenses hidden in jewelry boxes and the soles of shoes shipped from China. Most of them appeared to be addressed to college students. Border Patrol officials,who made the seizure in Chicago,are cracking down on phony licenses,but the Ids usually come disguised in individually addressed packages,making the task difficult. Driver's licenses took on a new significance in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks,when it was discovered that the hijackers carried several that had been fraudulently obtained. PARTiTek,the Chinese company,responding to an e-mail inquiry,acknowledged that the bar code is the company's but said it does not produce the licenses.
