"ANYONE CAN HAVE IT, THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS," the company says on a legal disclaimer published on a separate website. "What you do with it is up to you. Sometimes you just need to have a novelty ID for movies or what not."
Movies . . . yeah, or sometimes you just need one to go to spring break for entertainment purposes only, or to board a plane with bad intentions.
"These IDs are good. It's terrible," said Scott Keenan, owner of Keenan's Irish Pub in North Wildwood.
The "good" IDs are bad for the bar business, Keenan said, because owners take the biggest hit when the underage are busted. In recent years, he has confiscated hundreds of fake IDs, but he's also been shut down by the state and says he has spent about $900,000 in legal fees and fines after some underage drinkers slipped past his defenses.
"Some sophomores just ordered 15 of them," said a 21-year-old college student in Pennsylvania who asked not to be identified.
ID Chief is one of many websites that fuel Keenan's "personal vendetta" against fake IDs and the people who use them. ID Chief creates licenses for several states, complete with holograms and ultraviolet images that bar employees look for when examining an ID. It's yet another flare-up in the technological battle between bars and illicit-ID brokers.
"I don't want them to know it's hard for us to figure it out, but the technology is getting more and more scary," said Mike Driscoll, owner of Finnigan's Wake, a bar at 3rd and Spring Garden streets in Northern Liberties.
Authorities in New Jersey are skeptical of ID Chief's claims.
"We have not seen a counterfeit New Jersey digital license that passes for a real one," said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.
