Fake IDs flooding Five Points are ‘impossible to detect’

A pair of 20-year-old University of South Carolina exchange students from Hong Kong made their way to the front of the line at Latitude 22, a bar in Five Points, one Saturday night in February.

The two women, who asked that their names not be used, presented their “IDs” to the bouncer at the door. But instead of drivers’ licenses, they held up their cellphones. They had pictures of digitally altered passports to show they were 21.

The bouncer looked at the first phone, took a quick glance at the second and waved both students in. Their altered documents also got them into two other bars earlier in the night, Five Points Saloon and Breakers, the women said.

Underage drinkers armed with fake IDs are the new norm in Five Points, according to interviews with students and bar managers.

“I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t have a fake, unless they lose it,” said Sophia, a 19-year-old USC student who asked that her last name not be used. “And then they’ll just ask friends if they can borrow one or use their duplicate.”

The trend might help explain the increasingly rowdy party scene that merchants and neighbors say is damaging the entertainment district.

It might also be a contributing factor to the spike in first-year USC students — the vast majority underage — who admitted to drinking in bars. Their ranks nearly tripled from 2012 to 2014, according to a new USC study, to 39 percent.

Bar owners and managers say spotting fake IDs has become nearly impossible because the quality is so good.

But students say many bouncers aren’t even trying.

For many underage students hoping to enter a bar, they say their path to legitimacy goes through a popular Philippines-based website, ID God, which boasts of “high-quality IDs at an affordable price” and the chance to “have a great time with your friends!” ID God even includes a duplicate ID in case the buyer loses the first one.

To get a new driver’s license shipped to their doorsteps, several students interviewed by The State said they simply followed the guidelines for taking a photo of themselves and wired about $100 to ID God. Efforts by the newspaper to reach the company were unsuccessful.

Not that a quality ID is necessary. Several students said they don’t even need to look like their ID photos to gain entry into many Five Points bars.

Meagan, 20, and Lindsey, 19, who both agreed to be interviewed under the condition that their last names not be used, say they routinely use copies of the same fake ID.

At first, the pair say they would enter bars separately to avoid raising suspicion. Eventually, they noticed people working the door didn’t care.

“Honestly, if you have the same color hair (as the picture on the ID), they don’t really take a second glance just because a lot of the bouncers are college kids themselves,” Sophia said. “A lot of bouncers just glance at it. They don’t really even study it.”

Once inside, people are free to buy alcohol all night without showing an ID again.

Kelsy DeFee, 21, said she has never had a fake ID, but realized how prevalent they were during her freshman year at USC while taking University 101, a class intended to acclimate students to college life.

The class’s peer leader, who assists instructors and offers support to freshmen, asked whether anyone in the class had a fake ID. DeFee said everyone was timid, unsure of how to answer the question, until the peer leader assured group members they wouldn’t get in trouble.

That’s when every person’s hand in the class shot up, she said.

USC does not apply any education efforts specific to fake IDs, said Jeff Stensland, director of public relations at the university.

“Because it is against the law, it would, obviously, be discouraged along with a host of other activities,” Stensland said in an email. “We do, however, provide them (students) with a wealth of information about responsible drinking.”

Adam Ruonala, owner of The Roost and Rooftop in Five Points, said he is trying to raise the bar on how bouncers evaluate IDs. Employees now use blacklights and ID scanners to test the authenticity of each ID presented at the door every night.

Blacklights are used to display the holographic image on the ID, as well as detect any inconsistencies in its makeup. Scanners are supposed to display the same information listed on the ID.

“Underage drinking is something we are very cognizant of in our establishments,” Ruonala said, “and we want to make sure that we are helping with the solution rather than being part of the problem.”

But on one Saturday night in February, reporters with The State newspaper noticed blacklights were not used at The Roost and many other Five Points bars.

Ruonala provided The Roost’s security footage from that same night, showing a doorman using a blacklight until around 11:30 p.m. That’s when the battery went dead.

Ruonala said it’s his standard practice to terminate the employment of any worker who isn’t following protocol at the door.

“We’re genuinely trying to do it the right way,” he said.

Other bars use something called differential questioning, including the Five Points Saloon. Bouncers attempt to trick underage drinkers who offer fake IDs by asking them, “When did you graduate from high school?”

“Think about it. If I ask you right now, ‘What year did you graduate high school?’ You know. You can immediately tell me,” said Alex Waelde, a senior staff member at Five Points Saloon, the same place where the two USC students said they used pictures on their cellphones to get in. “If you have a fake ID, there’s a split second of hesitation because you have to think about it. And that works most of the time.”

Waelde said he was surprised to hear that two 20-year-olds claim to have gotten into his establishment. “I don’t know of any bar that is OK with people showing a picture off their phone,” he said, adding that the Saloon’s owners will check security footage to see what happened.

Bradley Morgan, the owner of Breakers, doesn’t believe the two women gained entry into his bar using a cell picture.

“That’s bogus, and someone would be fired for (allowing) that,” Morgan said. If the pair did get in, “they could have hopped a fence. They could have tried to sneak through a back door. ... We do everything by the books.”

Efforts to reach the owner of Latitude 22, where the two women also said they gained entry, were unsuccessful.

Bars face two big obstacles when attempting to detect fake IDs at the door: the bouncers and the quality, Waelde said.

The city of Columbia doesn’t require people working the door at a bar to be trained, certified or 21 years old, he said, and most people checking IDs in Five Points are underage themselves, including the Saloon. By comparison, the city of Greenville in North Carolina — home to East Carolina University — requires all bouncers to undergo training by the police department, according to a local ordinance passed in 2009.

In addition, it used to be easy to spot a fake, he said. But now, IDs coming in from China are passing the blacklight test and ID scanner. The only way to determine validity is for a police officer to run the ID through the police department’s system, he said.

“It’s become near impossible to detect some fake IDs, and that’s something, truthfully, that we cannot do anything about,” Waelde said. “I think this is a bigger issue that maybe the FBI or Homeland Security will have to tackle, because I don’t think we’re going to be able to handle it here in Columbia.”

Hannah Slater contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 7:58 AM with the headline "Fake IDs flooding Five Points are ‘impossible to detect’."