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Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

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Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#91

Post by InclinedPlane »

UVB-76 wrote: post #60
lampooned wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given today's software, it's trivial to fake a "photocopy" of an ID. How would one even go about doing this? Sounds rather difficult to make a fake ID convincing. Can anyone share some links on the subject?

It's difficult to make a convincing fake ID, but trivial to make a fake "photocopy" of an ID. Photocopies are low quality, often black and white. They bypass most, if not all, security features on physical ID documents, can be digitally altered, etc.

Today aren't they just going to look up your license number in a database and compare info? Or is that not done, even for birth certificates?

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#92

Post by improv32 »

ParahSailin wrote: post #63
EGreg wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really that easy The technically safest advice is "don't talk to the police": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

The SCOTUS just ruled that that doesn't work anymore.

You're mistaken, the SCOTUS ruled that in order to invoke your right to not self incriminate, you must state directly that your are invoking the 5th amendment only in VOLUNTARY conversations.

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#93

Post by ParahSailin »

improv32 wrote: post #92
ParahSailin wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SCOTUS just ruled that that doesn't work anymore.

You're mistaken, the SCOTUS ruled that in order to invoke your right to not self incriminate, you must state directly that your are invoking the 5th amendment only in VOLUNTARY conversations.

So when you are being detained, it is as it was before?

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#94

Post by mindcrime »

runn1ng wrote: post #4

With the new technology (fingerprints, retina scans), it's very hard to pull that off I think. Even spies today have problems with that; it's not enough to just put on fake moustache when you are easily identified by your fingerprints.

That or it's easier than ever. Hack the computer that stores the fingerprint and retina-scan images, upload yours, and you're golden. After all, everybody knows "computers never lie".

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#95

Post by nisse72 »

e3pi wrote: post #89
nisse72 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose the system only works as long as the net sum of all transactions arriving (+) and departing (-) any given location is zero in the long term. But I can imagine there are locations that are net payers and others that are net receivers of money. What happens then, to settle the difference?

This is straightforward, simple. The funds never cross borders. This is old, established popular exchange system. I expect there are more Hawaladars than there are brick and mortar banks. See Wikipedia.

I understand that money never needs to cross borders. But presumably this only works when there are enough local senders of money to offset the "incoming" funds to be collected by local recipients.

My question was what happens if, for example, people in Helsinki are always only recipients? The Finnish branch of the organisation is providing them with Euros, but if there are no Finnish senders of money (or more likely: the Finns as a group simply don't send as much as they receive) where do the Euros come from?

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#96

Post by socceroos »

onetimeonly wrote: post #58
6d0debc071 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone gets caught in the end. How would you know if they didn't?

I have a large sample size of the people I worked with over 8 years. Seriously, everyone went down eventually.

Your username of 'one time only', is that a reflection on the proper use of an OTP? Is there a story there about a mistake? Just curious. =)

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#97

Post by rdtsc »

VLM wrote: post #61

Why do you need "a" identity as in singular, why can't you have multiple identities, and it seems easier to adjust your lifestyle to require minimal identification rather than to get "a" new identity. You can go to immense efforts to subscribe to 2600 magazine without the bank or the mailman or the FBI knowing who you really are. That's all very impressive in a way. But for the overall system, it turns out to be a he…

I think in light of what we found out (or some who already knew) about our government's monitoring patterns, going out of ones way not be noticed is ... what will make you be noticed.

Over time defaults change. It used to be for example, that having a some silly Facebook account was a new and interesting thing, now not having one is perhaps odd.

Buying a car in cash was strange perhaps, you know walking in with a duffel bag bag full of $50s might end up them calling someone to report you. (War on Drugs and/or War on Tax Evaders etc etc).

2600 is probably not going to keep being sold in B+N. B+N might stop existing soon as people stop buying books made from dead trees.

> And the guy who sleeps over at his friends apartment couch for cash as a roommate has no documentation at all.

But do you want someone like that sleeping on your couch? We have been brainwashed to think those that put privacy high on the list are up to something illegal. They are criminals perhaps...

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#98

Post by sneak »

falcolas wrote: post #73
sneak wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't really work, as your SSN will be the same, and your credit reports will show your name change and full address history.

If you don't apply for credit, it's harder to pull a credit report on you. The public record portion of a credit report is also not comprehensive - they only obtain easily gathered public information (and are usually only interested in bankruptcy and felony findings). For example, my wife's name change is not recorded in her credit report. Hence the small city, and the recommendation to use cash, not debt. The altern…

> There will always be a trail for someone to follow, but as long as you don't have someone with the resources of the government looking for you, the trail will be very hard to follow.

I think you vastly underestimate private, paid access to these databases. Lexis-Nexis comes to mind, for one.

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#99

Post by Ovid »

driverdan wrote: post #83
Ovid wrote: post #23

Source: a long time ago I read several books on this topic because I collected odd books and I found three of them in an estate sale. The instructions below are how this was done in the early 90's and earlier, but today, with increased security and faster records access, the information is probably well out of date. Traditionally, the best way to do this has always been to establish a solid "breeder document". This i…

You're right, this information is very dated. The "dead baby" method has been dead for a long, long time. Using someone who died when they're older is even less likely to work since they would have had an SSN issued and it'd be in the social security death index (SSDI).

The SSDI is based on a self-reporting mechanism. If you acquired the birth certificate of someone who had never acquired a social security number or whose death had not been reported, it shouldn't be in the SSDI.

Thus, while it might be hard to verify whether or not someone is in the index, there are many people who are not in said index. Consider: why does someone's death get reported to Social Security? So someone else can claims the death benefits. There wouldn't be much incentive to do that for a child.

That being said, the older you are, the harder it would be to explain why you never had an SSN, making this much harder to pull off today.

Update: That being said, it appears that the US switched to a national data collection system in the 1990s. It's the NVSS (National Vital Statistics System, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm) which will track the births and deaths for you.

Re: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

#100

Post by Ovid »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #91
UVB-76 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's difficult to make a convincing fake ID, but trivial to make a fake "photocopy" of an ID. Photocopies are low quality, often black and white. They bypass most, if not all, security features on physical ID documents, can be digitally altered, etc.

Today aren't they just going to look up your license number in a database and compare info? Or is that not done, even for birth certificates?

What license number? Making an interstate license request is one thing, but all of the following are acceptable:

- State-issued driver's license

- State/city/county ID card

- Student ID

- Government employment badge or card

- Prison ID

- Military ID

So if you're creative about how to obtain other ID, surely you can be creative about how to obtain the above?

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