Teens can get fake IDs in a few keystrokes on Web

"The growth in ID forgeries has indeed been explosive," says Dana Turner, a security expert in Dallas. "The FBI doesn't have the means to even put a dent in it."

To be sure, bartenders still see the crude cut-out laminates that passed for fakes in the 1980s. But today most of the IDs that end up in buckets beside bouncers from Atlanta to Boston are first-rate forgeries.

Tammy Withington should know: Last year, the Velvet Elvis Lounge barkeep lived beside a fake-ID chop shop near Atlanta's club district. "You'll see 30 to 40 rich kids pulling up in their SUVs and talking on their cellphones, coming down to get their fake IDs," says Ms. Withington.

In effect, a forger needs little more than a photo on a colored background, a high-quality printer, a $15 laminate pouch, and a few other items to make a fake ID using $29 templates from the Internet. The machines that print out today's new generation of credit-card-style driver's licenses can be bought for a few thousand dollars.

Out here in the mossy squares of Savannah, it's easy to find a "scab" to forge a license. At school, too, several students are already learning the trade, says Mark, who just graduated from high school here in Savannah.

For teens, the access tempts even the most recognizable of people: Presidential daughter Jenna Bush's mug now smiles from above the Texas bar where she was busted earlier this year with a fake ID.

IDs from Georgia and Florida seem to be the most popular and easiest to fake. But bartender Grassi says lots of people show up at Club One with fake IDs from New Jersey and New York, which are laminated with a picture and easily broken codes. New Jersey has promised to make its IDs more forgery-proof next year, to the tune of $12 million.

In most states, having a fake ID amounts to a traffic violation, although many states are ratcheting up the penalty. At the same time, police acknowledge that prosecutions are unusual - both for fake-ID users and forgers. One Web forger found guilty in Florida earlier this year was sentenced to cleaning up a local highway.

Bars and police haven't given up trying. At the Brewery in Portsmouth, N.H., servers get a $50 bonus for every fake ID confiscated. In Virginia, a teen can face a year in jail for carrying a fake ID.

After introducing its new ID just two years ago, Georgia is already thinking about adding more security features. North Carolina now has a different color scheme for underage drivers. Maryland plans to introduce vertical driver's licenses for minors next year.

What's more, ID scanners that can read the new licenses' bar codes are available to bars for as little as $45. And earlier this year, a new federal law aimed at Internet fake-ID sites cut the number from 10,000 to 2,000.

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