Do you know where Crete, Illinois is?

I had actually never heard of it until my 19-year-old son (soon to be 20) showed me his....fake ID. How ironic is it that my kid orders a fake ID and it's for the state that I'm living in?

If he wasn't my kid, I would've had no idea that this ID was fake; it looked pretty legit. It had his actual photo, legal name, his date of birth with an earlier birth year, and my mom's street address. The one thing that stuck out to me was the town in Illinois; that's what made me know right away, that it was fake. Crete, Illinois; and it really does exist.

Obviously no one in Minnesota would know that, which is why he was able to get away with using it until about a month ago when it was finally confiscated.

Luckily for him, that was the worst of it; but had he gotten caught in the state of Illinois, it could've been a lot worse.

Here's what could happen to you or someone you know if you get busted with a fake ID, according to MTV:

  1. It will get taken away by a bouncer or bartender and possibly handed over to authorities.
  2. There is the possibility of being arrested.
  3. If you're arrested, you could get charged with a misdemeanor.
  4. In Illinois, you could get charged with a full-on felony. The best way to avoid a felony charge is pray that you got caught using it for something useful like voting. Even though that's very unlikely.
  5. Getting caught with a fake ID in Illinois is a class 4 felony. If you haven't had previous issues, though, you might not even get convicted. So be good.
  6. First time offenders probably won't go to jail, it's very rare.
  7. You could lose your driver's license.
  8. Making fake IDs is way worse then using one. If caught, you could be charged with forgery.
  9. It gets worse if you're creating fake passports. These are federal documents and you could get prosecuted at a federal level.
  10. This infraction could end up on your record and hurt your chances of getting a job.
  11. Don't even think of borrowing a friend's ID; both of you could get into trouble.
  12. You risk having your identity stolen. Online manufactures of fake IDs will typically ask for all of your personal information, including your social security number. You have no idea what they plan on doing with that information once they've created an ID for you.

What have we learned here? It's probably just best for you to wait until your 21.

Catch Mandy James on “The Steve Shannon Show with Mandy James” on 97 ZOK from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow her on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

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