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Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by ryanlol on Thursday November 09, 2017 @04:25AM (#15661013)
> it's really hard to make a somewhat passable forgery

It's not, I've held several. For EU countries.

>unless you've got contacts with organized crime

Or an internet connection!

>Getting a fake ID gives limited benefits and means jailtime even if you don't attempt to use it

My personal experience has been very different. But I guess this'll vary from country to country.

>there's not much demand among "normal people" for it

How many undocumented migrants are there in Europe again? Are those people not "normal"?

>Also, even if you could get one, it's going to cost thousands

Nonsense, hundreds.

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by dagw on Thursday November 09, 2017 @06:52AM (#15661638)
It's not, I've held several. For EU countries.

As in an actual national ID that can be used to open bank accounts and cross borders, or some other sort of non-official ID that might be good enough to get you into bars?

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by ryanlol on Thursday November 09, 2017 @07:54AM (#15661947)
Open bank accounts and cross borders kind.
Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by dfox on Thursday November 09, 2017 @03:11PM (#15665479)
I suspect that what you have seen were all forgeries of temporary non-machine-readable IDs, ie. ID-2 format laminated cardstock, instead of ID-1 (credit card size) plastic (smart) card, which are good enough to cross land borders, for getting beer at bar or for cursory inspection by police, Such IDs are usually insufficient to open bank account (and generally rejected by anyone who cares, including many parts of government) or air travel.

Edit: or given the thread context you mean forgeries of the same level as US driver licenses for under age drinking, which is quite possible, but such forgery is readily distinguishable by anyone who has actually seen real EU ID card.

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by ryanlol on Thursday November 09, 2017 @03:29PM (#15665623)
>ID-1 (credit card size) plastic (smart) card

These.

>ID-2 format laminated cardstock

Not these, I've seen a plenty of US ones like this.

I am talking about forgeries specifically sold for the purpose of opening bank accounts.

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by chki on Thursday November 09, 2017 @06:48AM (#15661621)
You're seriously admitting to holding various forged ID cards in several EU countries? To me that is similar to someone just casually noticing that they have made counterfeit money or stolen a wallet – seriously criminal.

And I'm also heavily doubting that an internet connection is enough to get a forged ID card. It does elude me how one would do that without some sort of special machines.

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by ryanlol on Thursday November 09, 2017 @07:55AM (#15661952)
There are tons of online sellers... ID cards and passports are far easier to ship than drugs.

Even the reddit fakeid community seems to have some pretty good EU ids.

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by throwanem on Thursday November 09, 2017 @07:56AM (#15661962)
You use the Internet connection to find and do business with people who have the special machines, would be my guess.