How to distinguish a real driver's license from a fake

Hello! The production, as well as the use of false documents, is a criminal offense. Therefore, a normal person who is not planning anything bad is unlikely to look for where to find fake papers. But some people have to deal with scammers who are trying to get goods, services, and money using fake documents. Today we’ll talk about how to distinguish a real driver’s license from a fake, as well as what awaits its owner.

It is not at all uncommon for a driver to be stopped by a traffic police officer, and the driver turns out to have false papers.

Most often, such copies are offered and sold over the Internet. The quality of the fakes is quite low. Because of this, identifying the catch is often quite simple.

At the same time, you need to understand what a fake driver's license is.

Who buys a fake driver's license?

In fact, anyone can buy a fake peel, since scammers provide these services via the Internet. But the following categories of the population are considered potential consumers of illegal goods:

• Minors aged 14 to 18 years (a common type of document is a license for mopeds, ATVs, and other motor vehicles);
• Persons deprived of a driver's license (for driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident or other violations);
• People who do not have the desire or means to attend full-fledged theoretical and practical training courses at a driving school;
• Citizens with health problems;
• Persons registered with a narcologist (if there is an official doctor’s report);
• Criminals who hide their real name (this category also includes persons wanted because of loan or alimony debts).

In most cases, people use fake licenses of poor quality, which even an inexperienced patrol officer can understand. But there are also fakes that are very difficult to distinguish from a real sample.

How to identify fake licenses using an ultraviolet detector?

This is the easiest way, since both old and new driver's license forms have ultraviolet protection marks.

On old-style licenses, when checked with a UV detector, you will see:

• Security hairs are red, green and blue (can be seen in the 365 and 395 nm spectra).
• Bright green traffic police inscription on the vertical section of the back side of the form (in the 365 nm spectrum).

The new sample forms have a frame around the photo that glows green when exposed to UV rays. And the series and number of the ID become orange when illuminated by ultraviolet light.

Options for falsifying driving documents

There are two main forms of linden crusts: complete and partial. In accordance with Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, any forgery of a driver's license will be considered an equally serious offense for which one must be held accountable. Therefore, it is clearly not worth counting on a more lenient sentence in any of the cases.

Complete fake

Complete forgery of a driver's license consists of creating a false document, starting from the cover itself and ending with the data entered into it. Namely:

• Full name of the customer, date of birth, place of registration and photograph;
• Name of the authority responsible for issuing driving licenses;
• Stamps and signatures.

Typically, this form of falsification is used for certificates and forms at the state level, since international papers undergo a thorough check. If a counterfeit is discovered at foreign points, you will not be able to get away with a fine. But inside the country, IDs are often simply briefly examined, and not always at close range.

Partial fake

A partial fake driver's license is much more difficult to detect than a full fake one, since only one of the elements changes. The crust itself, seals and signatures remain real, which is why any superficial check will not pose any threat. Such falsification can be determined in the following ways:

• Using infrared rays or under ultraviolet light (suitable for certificates altered by mechanical removal of individual graphic elements);
• Under high magnification, with the simultaneous use of light filters (helps to recognize crusts that have undergone chemical etching of text);
• Detailed comparison of a fake ID with a government-issued ID to determine if it contains inappropriate letter angles, misaligned stamps, or incorrectly scaled photographs.

In order to send a suspect's IC for examination, the inspector must have an ironclad foundation. Otherwise, the driver may sue the traffic cop for abuse of power.

Document forgery methods

A fake driver's license is considered to be any state-sanctioned attempt to create a document outside the special workshops of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. Only this organization has the right to create special forms, which are an official document that allows you to drive a vehicle. Modern driver's licenses have a fairly high level of security (watermarks, the inscription “RUS” on paper, which is visible only under an ultraviolet lamp, the presence of microtext, etc.), so their complete counterfeit is virtually impossible.

Fraudsters most often use partial counterfeiting, that is, they re-paste photographs with valid licenses, forge stamps or serial numbers. In addition, urgent licenses can be produced, which are entered into the traffic police database; a duplicate of these rights can be produced, but with the data of another citizen. It is common to deceive people using a phone call from an intermediary company. She produces a real ID, providing the client with the serial number of the document, as well as the contact information of the “traffic police officer”, who must subsequently enter this document into the database. Of course, such a certificate is a fake and no one will enter it into any database.

How to distinguish fake licenses from real ones

In most situations, drivers purchase fake licenses for cars, motorcycles, tractors and other vehicles for a very modest amount, which also affects the quality of the falsified document. Therefore, inspectors can check the authenticity of rights by visual signs, such as:

• The material of the driver's license differs to the touch (even if the driver does not give his license to the traffic police officers, MREO specialists will be able to detect such a discrepancy at the first State Technical Supervision);
• The presence of pronounced abrasions on the text, where freshly applied letters are clearly visible;
• A crookedly pasted photo (can only be seen on old-style Russian ID cards);
• Poorly printed lines, above or below the specified line (those people who order the cheapest counterfeit options may also experience noticeable bevels in the text);
• A different shade of the ID or background on the driver’s image (on the original documents there is only a red background);
• On the date of issue of the travel document, the month is written in words, not numbers;
• Not all categories are available on the back of the ID (there should be 14 on the old model and 16 on the new one), or there are errors in the table.

It is very easy to catch a fraudster based on such visual errors. But in the lion's share of cases, motorists pay off the inspector with a decent bribe, and no criminal case is initiated for falsification of the driver's license.

How to spot a fake

To understand that this is a real and a fake driver's license, you need a magnifying glass, a real driver's license, or ultraviolet light . A magnifying glass will help you examine your ID in detail. The paper should be thicker, with special inclusions. Under ultraviolet light you can see special watermarks that are on real documents.

How to check a document for authenticity

To recognize a fake, the following signs were identified:

1. The date should be positioned as follows: dd.mm.yyyy. If your driver’s license says: dd.mm.yy., then this is a fake.
2. On a fake, the background of the photo can be blue, white or some other color; on a real document, the background is only red.
3. If font poorly printed or the letters are beveled, then this is a fake.

   
   Pay attention to the font

4. New data has been added to the erased text
5. Information about categories recorded with errors. It may also not be located on the back side where it should be.

   
   Information about the document must be entered into the traffic police database

Punishment for using counterfeit

Many drivers believe that driving with a linden peel can be completely calm. But according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the use of false documents, as well as the forgery of rights itself, is punishable in accordance with the code.

Thus, using a non-original driver’s license or registration card, the motorist is subject to the following sanctions:

• A fine of 40 to 80 thousand rubles (depending on how many times a citizen is caught with a fake driver’s license, the amount of the fine can increase significantly);
• Forced labor for a period of 1.5-2 years (according to Article 327 Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, this penalty is applied to persons who are unable to pay debts to executive bodies);
• Partial restriction of freedom (an extreme alternative that comes into force subject to long-term evasion of paying a fine).

Based on this, it turns out that you can also get punished for using fake licenses.

Therefore, when issuing your next driver’s license, it is better to check it yourself to ensure it is properly formatted. If the certificate differs from the generally accepted requirements, the motorist needs to urgently contact the local traffic police department to solve this problem (during the period of replacement of the driving license, the driver can use a temporary permit).

What protection is used for new-style rights?

Since 2014, new licenses have been issued in Russia, for which appropriate modified forms with improved protection and additional measures aimed at preventing copying are used.

This driving document ultimately features the following security elements:

• The licenses are made in the form of a plastic product, like bank cards. Unlike conventional lamination, such documents are much more difficult to forge;
• The sizes of products were clearly standardized. Each card must be strictly 85.6x54 mm;
• Each edge has a special rounded shape;
• Complex shades are used, such as pale blue-pink, as well as pink-blue;
• The photograph is no longer pasted on, as in old forms, but is printed directly on the form. A special printer is used for this;
• There is a special place for photos, which is strictly regulated. This is the left side from the front side. Any shift indicates a fake;
• Driver information is entered in Russian and English. Moreover, the Russian font is necessarily slightly larger than the English one;
• Complex holographic protection is applied to the entire front part, including the driver’s photo. It shimmers in the light depending on the viewing angle;
• A barcode is printed on the reverse side. It encrypts information about the owner of the rights;
• There is microtext throughout the form. Has strict spacing between characters. The text specifies the institution that issued the rights;
• They use direct, that is, defining microtext with the title of the document;
• A guilloche pattern is applied in the form of an iridescent holographic mesh. It can be seen on the entire front side;
• Color-shifting Orlov effect, which does not distort printed characters when color protection shifts, depending on the viewing angle;
• The color of the document itself, and not just the holograms, changes when you change the viewing angle;
• The series and number are prescribed with special paints that turn orange in ultraviolet light.

Knowing all these signs of fakes, as well as the levels of protection, it will definitely not be possible to catch you with a fake license.

Responsibility for the production and marketing of rights

We have looked at what it would be like to drive with a fake license, and in conclusion, let’s find out what threatens manufacturers of illegal products. If we rely on the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Article 327), then it provides for punishment in the form of arrest for a period of 6 months to 4 years. But in practice, the legal authority can limit itself only to forced labor and a fine of 80 thousand rubles.

It is strongly not recommended to engage in fraud or use fake certificates of a driver, driver or anyone else. After all, being deprived of freedom for several years is not a pleasant prospect. And having a criminal record, in the future there will be many more problems both with employment and with other sectors of life.

Criminal Code on forgery of a driver's license

Since fake licenses are not registered by the traffic police, they are not in the database. This means that at the very first check against the database, a fake will be detected even if the document itself is carefully prepared and differences from a real ID cannot be visually identified immediately.

You cannot insure yourself and undergo a technical inspection using such a certificate, since in this case it will also be checked against the database.

The essence of violations when falsifying driving documents is reflected in Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Namely:

• Complete fake.
• Partial fake.
• Use and distribution of false identities.
• Their intentional or unintentional use.
• Harboring criminals who are engaged in falsifying licenses.

If a person faces a fine for an unintentional violation of the law, then malicious fraudsters will face imprisonment.

Conditions for ordering a duplicate of rights and a list of required documents

But that's not all. As we have already found out, sometimes it becomes necessary to obtain duplicate certificates of ownership of property. Recently, this document has been replaced by an extract from the Unified State Register.

If your license has been lost irretrievably or completely stolen, you will need to contact the traffic police department at your place of residence or place of permanent registration to obtain a duplicate. However, there are often cases when rights are lost in another subject of the Russian Federation (not at the place of registration) or even on the territory of a foreign state. What to do in this case?

It should be noted that the duplicate of the Russian driver's license, which was issued to the applicant in replacement of the lost one, has legal force for 10 years from the date of issuance of the lost license.

A medical certificate is not required to be provided in case of issuance of a duplicate license from February 16, 2016. You don't need to take an exam either.

In the last three cases, not just a duplicate of the certificate is issued, but a new copy of it, in which changes of one type or another are made. How to do this personally has already been discussed. Later we will look at the process of obtaining a driver’s license (duplicate) through “State Services”.

Before contacting a government agency (any traffic police department) to obtain a duplicate, you should make every effort to find your lost license yourself. If you still manage to find them, it will save a decent amount of time, as well as some money.

Do you urgently need a driver's license? Contact our service and you will not regret it - fast registration, no prepayment and, most importantly, we work legally!

There is a long wait until the rights are printed; everything else is done quickly. To exchange a car license, only a minimum number of documents are required. And you can make a replacement yourself in a few hours, especially using the government services portal. Articles on the topic.

Based on this document, you can drive a car for a period of one to two months. If necessary, its validity period can be extended further.

A duplicate license is the cheapest option to get back behind the wheel if you have been deprived of your license, or if you have lost your driver’s license and cannot replace it yourself through the traffic police (you are abroad, your driver’s card is lost, etc.).

A copy of a driver’s license, which can only be purchased if the word “buy” means payment of the state fee, is made only at the traffic police department.

If you have suffered the fate of deprivation of rights, then the only solution to this issue will be the purchase of new copy rights. It’s up to you to choose whose documents to duplicate, but the main thing is that this person is approximately your age.

That's all. Congratulations, you have a new license and you don't have to worry about replacing it for the next ten years. Faster and cheaper through the government services portal. Three minutes with a photo. Through government services, you arrive at the appointed time and everything is already printed. The procedure itself does not take much time, an hour at most, if you have prepared the necessary documents in advance.

In reality, everything is much simpler than it seems. Especially if you know what documents are required by the registration authorities to restore the previously mentioned papers.

What are the risks when buying a car with a duplicate title?

Forging driver's licenses is a fairly common practice nowadays. Most often, drivers do not want to burden themselves with studying at schools, since, for example, they have been driving since childhood. Therefore, to save time, it is easiest to buy rights, but this practice does not lead to anything good and only brings unnecessary problems to their owner. In most cases, the PTS is not counterfeited, since it is used mainly only two times: when buying and selling a car. Therefore, fraudsters most often see no point in forging such a passport.

Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation defines a special penalty for the production and use of false documents. Falsified, illegally manufactured and sold rights in various ways are exactly the same case.

Now it’s not news to anyone that cunning businessmen through the media offer registration of “real” rights at a reasonable price and in a short time. Irresponsible car owners resort to their services quite often, which gives them the opportunity to ignore the lengthy learning process at a driving school.

Where do scammers get data from real drivers?

According to Anton Shaparin, head of the National Automobile Union, in Russia you can buy almost any database. They are all available on the Internet and are inexpensive. There you can also find databases with driver’s licenses. Almost all of them are updated regularly. Anton Shaparin also said that he saw a database with passes that were issued at the beginning of the lockdown due to the coronavirus epidemic. The data from it was generally available to any network user, and, accordingly, to scammers.

In addition, some criminals may work in conjunction with traffic police officers who have access to internal databases. This is how the market for selling real driver’s licenses on the darknet is developing, as one of the experts says.

After purchasing a database on the Internet, information from it is used to create mirror rights. People who buy such a license are usually not good drivers. Most often these are motorists who have previously lost their driving license. And with the advent of mirror rights, such violators had the opportunity to buy a new ID at any time. At the same time, the real owner of the VU receives fine after fine.

The same scheme applies to clone cars, when two cars have the same license plates, but drive in different regions. According to Shaparin, this fraud scheme is also gaining momentum.

The very fact that someone is driving with a mirror license is revealed only after the real owner of the document contacts law enforcement agencies, who does not want to pay for illegal decisions on administrative fines. And it may take years until the police catch the real offender and send the report to court.

What traffic police officers recommend paying attention to

Look at the back of the documents. It should contain information about the categories of vehicles.

This is fraught with negative consequences for the driver. Therefore, you need to know how to distinguish a fake from a high-quality copy and how not to stumble upon a fraudulent company.

Imprisonment remains pending before the court and depends on the severity of the crime and the consequences to which it led.

The main points of sale for counterfeits were shopping centers (40% of total sales) and clothing markets (30%). Most of all, buyers preferred fake T-shirts, sneakers, jeans and bags.

Responsibility under the Code of Administrative Offenses

Driving a car or other vehicle with a false license is equivalent to driving without any documents at all.

Thus, an unscrupulous driver will have to bear administrative liability for an offense:

• if the owner of the fake documents never had a real driver’s license, the court may impose a fine for fake licenses in the amount of 5,000 - 15,000 rubles;
• If the owner of a false license was previously deprived of the right to drive a car, he faces a fine of 30 thousand rubles, arrest for 15 days, or forced labor (100 - 200 hours).

If a traffic police officer finds false documents on the driver, he is obliged to detain him until the circumstances are determined, and send the vehicle to a impound area.

In this case, the driver will then have to pay a considerable amount to return his car back.

So, a fake driver's license can bring a lot of problems to its owner. Of course, dishonest sellers can assure that the driver’s licenses they produce are registered in the traffic police database, but a prudent driver will never commit an obvious offense.

All the same, the truth will be revealed over time, and you will have to pay dearly for it - the dishonest motorist will be prosecuted.