She is just your average senior girl: an athlete, a well-rounded student, and a social butterfly with a hidden agenda: to successfully acquire 30 fake IDs for underage students at Hereford. Some call her “The Organizer” but I will call her Susan* (’16).

All it took was a college visit for Susan to realize that a false identification was necessary for her future endeavors. After extensive research, Susan found a website with step by step directions on how to customize and order a fake ID, but she knew it could not be done alone.

“A lot of these b*****s in school got fake IDs, a lot of them,” said Jennifer* (’16). “The more people you have, the lower the price is, and since we had 30 people the price was $65 for two IDs which is an awesome deal.”

After contacting the website owners, Susan received an email with more thorough instructions that she forwarded to all of the interested customers.

First, the students needed to choose a state. Maryland, Delaware, and California are very common states to be on fake ID and are usually recognized as faulty. Some of the seniors in Susan’s group chose from Rhode Island, Connecticut, South Carolina, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

“College students come from all over, so it would be hard to tell if they are really from the state on their fake ID or not,” said Chris* (’16).

Some of the closer college towns, like Towson, have caught on to these trends and have their bouncers ready to decline the phony IDs. On August 27, 2015, the Green Turtle Bouncers (@turtlebouncers) tweeted “The weekend is here! It’s crazy to see so many new students who are apparently from Connecticut and South Carolina! Welcome!”

The students used a white background to take their pictures. The pictures can’t be taken with a phone or a low pixel camera, so, for clarity, all of the photos had to be taken with a high quality camera. Most of the students in the group met up at a friend’s house this past summer in order to take all of their pictures in front of a blank bedroom wall.

The students also needed to give the ID dealers their other information that would be found on a driver’s license, like eye color, height, weight, and they even had to generate a fake address from the state they chose to make it more realistic.

In the 2007 film Superbad, which documents the struggle of high school students trying to purchase alcohol for a party, one of the characters received a fake ID from Hawaii, and only presented the name “McLovin’”. As he entered the liquor store, he wore older clothes to better his chances of passing for 21. The students at Hereford are also dressing the part to increase their chances of getting caught.

“[I think I would look 21] if I dress myself up with makeup and older clothes,” said Susan. “Otherwise, probably not. But when I go to visit my friends that are in college, [a fake ID] is the only way I can get into the bars with them,” said Susan.

Many of the students haven’t even used their fake IDs yet and plan to save them for college. However, some are taking advantage of their new ability and are buying liquor for themselves and others.

“I use it about twice a month,” said Marcus* (’16), a lover of beer. “I’ve been making a profit by selling [alcohol] to some underclassman.”

The underclassmen receiving the alcohol claim to pay up to $50 for two cases of beer, when the average cost is around $30. Despite the high prices, the underclassmen admit that it is useful to have older students to get the alcohol for them.

“I’ll probably get a fake ID when I’m older, but I think I’m a little young right now,” said Jim* (’18), who has bought alcohol from an older student.

While some students are using their fake IDs to help the younger students, others are using them to help older students. Jennifer’s fake ID has actually served two purposes; not only has her fake ID worked for herself, but for her older sister, too.

“She was originally using her other friends’ [fake ID at college], and they look nothing alike, so I was like ‘here take mine’ and she’s used it a couple times and has been successful,” Jennifer said.

There are many benefits of having a fake ID, but there are also very serious consequences. Officer Croft, the school resource officer, notes that getting caught with a fake ID could result in a $2,000 fine and up to 6 months in jail. Some of the luckier offenders get away with a citation that consists of either a fine or community service.

Many of the students interviewed said their parents have been supportive of their purchase, and some parents have been buying alcohol for them before the IDs arrived.

“My parents think [my fake ID] is funny,” said Helen*, who plans to save her fake ID for college to buy alcohol. “I don’t think I look 21, so I hope it works.”