US officials are incensed over expertly-crafted, Chinese-made counterfeit identification cards they say are threatening the country’s security.
China has produced fake US ID cards for some time, but the country’s counterfeiters are getting better and better at their craft. A shipment of fake ID cards was recently seized by US customs agents, reported China Daily. The expertly-made forgeries were hidden in tea containers or jewelry boxes, and spread throughout several hundred cases.
The driver’s licenses are made in China and described as “authentic-looking”. Each counterfeit ID is worth $150 (RMB 920).
An official from Illinois expressed his outrage, saying something has to be done:
Reporter: When you look at the fakes that are coming in now, what’s your reaction?
Official: I’m amazed by it.
Reporter: This isn’t just forgery and fraud, there’s also a homeland security issue here too.
Official: That’s why I’m not going to stand idly by and allow this activity to continue without doing something about it.
When authentic-looking Chinese-made fake IDs were found in the USA in 2012, David Huff with Virginia’s Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control called them “an affront to the very sovereignty and dignity of the states that issue them.”
A year before that In 2011, an officer from the Arizona Department of Public Safety called the Chinese-made ID cards “a national security threat”.
Still, it appears there is little the US government can do to stem the black market for counterfeit identification, said to be worth $100 million. Andrew Meehan, a policy analyst for the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License, said:
Short of filing a complaint to the World Trade Organization, the request has to be made to the Chinese government.
Chinese netizens are proud of the country’s shanzhai culture that has produced countless counterfeit products:
Somnus__華：
MADE IN CHINA ！萤飞七月：
The great home of counterfeits下雪不出门：
The certification industry has finally gone international…公交新兵：
From out of the country, and into the world.
Even Alibaba, the e-commerce behemoth that recently listed in New York, is able to openly sell fake IDs on its e-commerce website — in English, no less.
Photos: China Daily, mident solutions, Alibaba screenshot, What’s on Xiamen