Fake IDs can lead to bigger trouble

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - On a typical Thursday night, a long line of Purdue students head out to bars for the night. What they don’t see this night is what lies just inside the doors of the Neon Cactus.

Indiana Excise Officer Sanford Swanson is an extra set of eyes making sure that everyone who enters is 21 or older.

In growing numbers, students are "turning 21" overnight - thanks to fake IDs.

We talked to one girl who got ticketed for using a fake ID. The 20-year-old from Fort Wayne admitted she had used it successfully six other times before being caught. And she said she’s not alone. Many of her friends, she said, were inside the bar because of fake IDs.

“The frequency is higher, there's more fake IDs coming out, and they've gotten much better over the years,” Swanson said.

Last year, one-third of arrests by excise police involved a fake ID. The most arrests in 2010 came in Bloomington with 1,500 alcohol-related arrests.

Underage drinking in Indiana made national headlines with the disappearance of IU student Lauren Spierer . Police say she used a fake ID to get into Kilroy’s Bar - one of the last places she was seen before she disappeared June 3.

Underage drinking is nothing new: 76 percent of students polled in the 2011 Indiana College Substance Use Survey admit drinking alcohol in the past year. Of those younger than 21, the number falls just slightly to 69.5 percent.

The same study found that the majority of those younger than 21 (60.4 percent) said they get alcohol using a fake ID or someone else’s ID.

The manager of Nick’s English Hut in Bloomington called it a game.

“It's always been,” Rick McClung said. “Everybody's always trying to get in, and we're always trying to keep ahead of what they're trying to do.”

Managers at West Lafayette’s Neon Cactus said the same. The night we were there, they confiscated four IDs in just over an hour. All of them were Pennsylvania IDs.

“We usually get an influx of a particular state for several months, then that state will change,” said assistant manager Nathan Biesemeier. “Illinois was really popular last year. Now we're dealing with a lot of Pennsylvania. There's a lot of theirs going around. Who knows what the next one will be.”

The fake ID looks and feels real, with what look like genuine holograms. Some even scan through police computers. Catching them all can be tough.

The assistant general manager at Jake’s in West Lafayette admitted they can’t catch them all.

“I'm not going to say they don't get through, but we try real hard to catch them,” Jolene Prather said.

She said local bar managers meet with excise police monthly to go over the new trends they’re seeing. The one thing they know is where the majority of fake IDs are coming from: They’re ordered online.

That’s what I-Team 8 heard over and over again on three Indiana campuses: Indiana University, Purdue University and Butler University. Students at all campuses recommended using a few clicks of the mouse to quickly turn 21.

“Once a couple friends find out they're getting them, they see them and see they're working, then they follow suit and go ahead and do the same thing,” Swanson said.

On a sunny Monday morning, I-Team 8 found more than two dozen IU students inside a Monroe County courtroom.

With court papers in hand, backpacks and books in tow, they lined up and shuffled before the judge.

They all faced similar charges, including public intoxication and minor consumption. Most we talked to just spent the weekend in jail.

A few talked with us but were too embarrassed to go on camera. They didn't want their parents to find out.

The other thing that linked them was how they got their IDs.

One teen explained how he got his: "My friend said he could get one for me online, so I just gave him the money, and he did all of it basically.”

He told us he sent his information and a picture. And it cost $50.

But police warn going online puts them at risk for identity theft.

"You're giving someone you don't know on the other side of a computer screen a lot of personal data about you,” said Cpl. Travis Thickstun of the Indiana Excise Police. “And you can't control what they're going to use that for."

Swanson added: “Are you going to find out two years from now that there's a boat in your name that you never signed for, or credit cards in your name you never applied for? It goes far beyond just going to get a beer or a drink or going to a club.”