Can an ID card be forged?
Invariably, yes. The technology gap between governments and organised crime has now narrowed to such an extent that even the most highly secure cards are available as blanks weeks after their introduction. Criminals and terrorists can in reality move more freely and more safely with several fake “official” identities than they ever could in a country using multiple forms of “low-value” ID such as a birth certificate. Forgery of ID cards has been detected and prosecuted even where terms of imprisonment of ten years are threatened. Prosecutions for dealing with or creating false ID cards and high-level identity documents have been pursued in Britain, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Ireland, Malaysia, Yemen, Czech Republic, Venezuela, India, Italy, and Sri Lanka where the forgeries were supplied to suicide bombers. This year the Israeli government estimated that “hundreds of thousands” of fake ID cards are in the hands of its population. In many cases the false identity was secured merely by bribing
