OnlyFake website used ‘neural network’ to make, sell fake IDs

(NewsNation) — An underground website was reportedly using artificial intelligence “neural networks” to generate fake IDs that could make it easier for scammers and other criminals to commit fraud or launder money.

The IDs were being sold for only $15, 404 Media reported. The news outlet ran its own test on the website to generate a fake California driver’s license that at first glance seems legitimate.

Fake licenses and even passports could be useful for people trying to avoid “Know Your Customer” checks on cryptocurrency exchange websites, Cointelegraph reported. If they can get past the verification check, crypto scammers could use the fake documents to create accounts under fake names, protecting their real identities and making them harder to track down.

According to Cointelegraph, users of the OnlyFake site had posted in Telegram channels about their successes creating accounts on crypto exchanges using the fake documents.

404 Media reported Tuesday that OnlyFake went offline after the news outlet’s initial report a day earlier.

OnlyFake’s pseudonymous owner “John Wick” told 404 Media in the initial report the generator service took a year and a half to build and was created by feeding it a “large collection” of identity documents. That trove of information is what helped craft the algorithm that spits out the new images.

OnlyFake also claims to use a neural network, which is a type of machine learning model.

“They can identify complex patterns in data that classical algorithms may struggle with, tackle highly complex machine learning problems (such as natural language processing and image recognition), and diminish the need for extensive feature engineering and manual efforts,” data scientist Shreya Rao explained on Medium.

Having a model that can process and generate complex information would be useful for generating photo IDs that have layers of text, photos, colors and holograms.

“Each passport, ID, etc., usually has various numbers. Each number has a unique algorithm, which often requires analyzing hundreds or thousands of originals to decipher,” Wick told 404 Media.

Wick emphasized that using the website for the purpose of forging documents is prohibited, though it appears that’s exactly what it’s being used to do.

404 Media reported Tuesday that Wick told site users in a Telegram message: “I want to remind you that we are against any illegal use of images generated from our site. … All generated images on the site are intended for legal use only.”