Inside the Underground Site Where 'Neural Networks' Churn Out Fake IDs (404media.co) 28
An anonymous reader shares a report: An underground website called OnlyFake is claiming to use "neural networks" to generate realistic looking photos of fake IDs for just $15, radically disrupting the marketplace for fake identities and cybersecurity more generally. This technology, which 404 Media has verified produces fake IDs nearly instantly, could streamline everything from bank fraud to laundering stolen funds. In our own tests, OnlyFake created a highly convincing California driver's license, complete with whatever arbitrary name, biographical information, address, expiration date, and signature we wanted. The photo even gives the appearance that the ID card is laying on a fluffy carpet, as if someone has placed it on the floor and snapped a picture, which many sites require for verification purposes. 404 Media then used another fake ID generated by this site to successfully step through the identity verification process on OKX. OKX is a cryptocurrency exchange that has recently appeared in multiple court records because of its use by criminals.
Rather than painstakingly crafting a fake ID by hand -- a highly skilled criminal profession that can take years to master -- or waiting for a purchased one to arrive in the mail with the risk of interception, OnlyFake lets essentially anyone generate fake IDs in minutes that may seem real enough to bypass various online verification systems. Or at least fool some people. "The era of rendering documents using Photoshop is coming to an end," an announcement posted to OnlyFake's Telegram account reads. As well as "neural networks," the service claims to use "generators" which create up to 20,000 documents a day. The service's owner, who goes by the moniker John Wick, told 404 Media that hundreds of documents can be generated at once using data from an Excel table.
Rather than painstakingly crafting a fake ID by hand -- a highly skilled criminal profession that can take years to master -- or waiting for a purchased one to arrive in the mail with the risk of interception, OnlyFake lets essentially anyone generate fake IDs in minutes that may seem real enough to bypass various online verification systems. Or at least fool some people. "The era of rendering documents using Photoshop is coming to an end," an announcement posted to OnlyFake's Telegram account reads. As well as "neural networks," the service claims to use "generators" which create up to 20,000 documents a day. The service's owner, who goes by the moniker John Wick, told 404 Media that hundreds of documents can be generated at once using data from an Excel table.
This is terrible! (Score:1)
Undercutting all those traditional crooks like that.
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Good use case. (Score:2)
Say what you will about the ethics of it, you've got a straight line between the possibility and the profit. I've had projects worth millions justified with less. :)
Roleplaying material. (Score:2)
This would be great for generating role-playing props for character ID cards and other documents, personalised to each player's character.
Can they make Police badges? (Score:2)
.... asking for a friend.
Also FBI and CIA building passes.
"An underground website...." (Score:2)
Not really underground when their web address is literally OnlyFake.org
Apparently they do passports too with their higher packages.
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Pretty much. We had the same thing back in college both in foam-core and digital form. I could see fuzzing a real picture to skew/tune facial recognition being a potential benefit of an actual neural net vs technical skill, but still limited value.
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Underground (Score:2)
Re:Underground (Score:4, Interesting)
This is the MTV definition of underground.
It's underground! Everybody's doing it! Get in quick, before it disappears!
This is a pretty shitty slashvertisement. At what point does /. get in trouble for promoting illegal activity?
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Your mom is so ugly the AI caused a kernel panic when it saw her picture.
Easy solution (Score:2)
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Re:Easy solution (Score:4, Interesting)
I was very surprised when the on-line request for a Harbor Freight credit card asked me to provide a photo of my ID, along with other identification information. My concern was that once I had created a photo of my ID and provided that information, and it was stored in their database, any of their employees AND anyone accessing their database could then use that photo and information to claim to be me, any place else with the same requirements.
I declined the request. This is the kind of woefully bad security practice that ends up screwing everyone. Interestingly enough, once I had declined that request, I was subsequently unable to obtain a Harbor Freight credit card when I applied in-person at a Harbor Freight store despite my solid FICO score/credit history. I dragged my wife in and had her apply in-person first without first trying on-line. That worked, so I got my 10% first purchase discount (on a very pricey first purchase) but had to jump through that extra hoop to do so.
Not all that useful (Score:2)
It is only a photo (Score:3)
>"OnlyFake created a highly convincing California driver's license, complete with whatever arbitrary name, biographical information, address, expiration date, and signature we wanted. The photo even"
That last part is the key. Photo.
My driver's license has several extremely sophisticated anti-fake additions they will not be able to replicate:
* Raised/textured visible numbers on front AND back
* Textured numbers in the plastic only (not visible except by angle/glare of DOB and license number).
* A transparent cutout section
* A translucent watermark of my photo in the transparent section
* Metallic print
* Microprinting
And there might be other things I don't know about- like infrared ink. So yes, you might could produce something that would look OK from a distance with just a photo/printer/laminator. But if anyone held it and looked closely or felt it, game is up.
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The other option is buying someone else's license/passport, with your photo on it. This usually requires an inside man and tends to be available only in less-developed countries.
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>"OnlyFake created a highly convincing California driver's license, complete with whatever arbitrary name, biographical information, address, expiration date, and signature we wanted. The photo even"
That last part is the key. Photo.
My driver's license has several extremely sophisticated anti-fake additions they will not be able to replicate:
* Raised/textured visible numbers on front AND back
* Textured numbers in the plastic only (not visible except by angle/glare of DOB and license number).
* A transparent cutout section
* A translucent watermark of my photo in the transparent section
* Metallic print
* Microprinting
And there might be other things I don't know about- like infrared ink. So yes, you might could produce something that would look OK from a distance with just a photo/printer/laminator. But if anyone held it and looked closely or felt it, game is up.
The number 1 security feature of modern ID isn't on the ID itself, it's the database behind it.
If a UK cop pulls me over and wants to check my license (this very, very rarely happens) they can check it via their internal database to know if the number and my details are correct. They're not relying on me having a genuine copy and no form of authentication should ever rely on the end user being trustworthy.
Even my passport isn't considered the be all and end all of identification and that has my biomet
Yes, I gotta bring the culture wars into this (Score:1)
Conservatives have been saying ID cards are more reliable than mail-in ballots (without evidence), but ID cards are getting ever easier to fake.