INDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Indianapolis found more than 1,000 counterfeit driver’s licenses that had been shipped to the U.S. from Hong Kong.
There were three shipments from Hong Kong with contents described as “Game Card” with a value of $20, and inside the shipments, investigators found 1,207 fake licenses.
Investigators told WXIN the first shipment was headed for Chicago, while the other two were addressed to addresses in New York.
In a news release, investigators said the licenses were for more than 20 states, including California, Ohio, South Carolina, Michigan, North Carolina, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas, and said that most were for college-age students. In some cases, the licenses would share a picture but have different names.
Investigators warn the licenses can be used for much more than teenagers trying to get into bars. “Some of the major concerns as it relates to fraudulent identity documents is identity theft, worksite enforcement, critical infrastructure protection, fraud linked to immigration-related crimes such as human smuggling and human trafficking, and these documents can be used by those individuals associated with terrorism to minimize scrutiny from travel screening measures,” LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, director, Field Operations-Chicago, said in a statement.
©2022 Cox Media Group
