The Federal Trade Commission is suing six companies for selling fake “international driver’s licenses” over the Internet, aided in part by an investigation conducted by authorities in Illinois.
FTC officials sued the companies in federal courts across the country over the last 10 days, taking aim at what officials say is a lucrative and increasingly popular Internet scam. Federal lawyers contend the firms used Web sites and unsolicited e-mail offers to sell fake licenses for $65 to $375 to illegal immigrants or people whose licenses had been revoked or suspended.
In 2000, former Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan’s office sued one of the six companies, Internex LLC of Grand Terrace, Calif., in state court in California.
The litigation stalled when Internex did not respond to the suit. But FTC attorneys said Thursday that information from Illinois investigators helped them bring the federal suit against the company.
Many people who buy the licenses believe they’ve found a legal way to drive, but that’s not the case, said Elaine Kolish, an FTC associate director.
“If you go to the Web sites, they make a huge effort to convince people that this is a legal option,” Kolish said Thursday. “We hope consumers will see that these are not documents they can use to drive legally, the demand will dry up and it will drive everyone out of business.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, Internex’s Web site said: “We can help you get back on the road even if you have a suspended or revoked drivers license. … Is this really legal? Yes! Yes! Yes!”
FTC officials said Internex also sent unsolicited e-mail with a subject line that said: “Say Goodbye to Tickets!”
Internex officials could not be reached for comment Thursday. The company’s Web site could not be accessed.
The FTC also filed lawsuits against Better Books and Cassettes of America in California; PT Resource Center in Massachusetts; Jaguar Business Concepts in Maryland; and two foreign firms, Carlton Press Inc., which was sued in New York, and Institute for International Licensing, which was sued in Washington, D.C. The suits also name individual business owners and related companies.
The fake licenses have been an increasing problem in the Chicago area, with thousands appearing on the streets over the last year or so.
Last March, police in Waukegan closed a business, International Driving Documents, and Web site that they said sold 50 to 60 fake licenses a day over a six-month period.
The company’s owner, Mikhail Tsipis of Wheeling, pleaded guilty in October to computer fraud and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, according to court officials. The company also forfeited $419,000 to the Lake County state’s attorney’s office and Waukegan police.
Scam artists who sell “international driver’s licenses” intentionally foster confusion between their license and a legitimate document called an international driving permit, authorities said.
The legitimate $10 permit is an official translation of one nation’s driver’s license into other languages. But the permit confers no driving privileges by itself and must be accompanied by a valid driver’s license from the motorist’s home country, according to the U.S. State Department.
FTC officials said the agency gets about 70,000 “spam” messages a day and collects and sorts them in a database that staffers call “the refrigerator.”
The federal investigation into international licenses was prompted by an increase in the number of messages advertising the licenses, as well as by media reports that scam artists were targeting immigrants, FTC officials said.
