You can buy a lot of things on Craigslist: an apartment, a used coffee table, a date … and even a fake ID.

Investigators from the California DMV found out how easy it was to get a fraudulent driver’s license in a sting that ended with at least one arrest.

The investigation began earlier this year when the DMV was tipped to Craigslist ads for “Fake IDs and DL for CA,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed in San Diego federal court this month.

A search of the phone number on the ad quickly linked investigators to a U.S. passport that appeared to be fraudulently using someone else’s identity.


In February, a DMV investigator assistant answered an ad and asked to have a fake driver’s license. She was told to make the $240 payment via PayPal or Walmart transfer and to email her photo. A few weeks later, the investigator assistant picked up the ID. The driver’s license number on it belonged to a real person from Visalia, the DMV later learned.

Investigators did a facial recognition search of the man who made the in-person handoff and learned it was Vuong “Mike” Ton. Further digging revealed Ton had been using the identity of another man himself, court records state.

That man, who is referred to by the initials C.L., told investigators he had asked Ton to help him consolidate his student loans, and sent Ton his picture and Social Security number as part of that effort. He said he soon found out that his loans were not consolidated and began to get warnings that his credit was being damaged.

A search of Ton’s Clairemont apartment in July found seven counterfeit driver’s licenses, as well as 45 blank and printed cards with magnetic strips and card embossing equipment. Many of the strips included information under various names.


Ton was arrested on a charge of making a false statement in applying for a passport.

Ton told authorities that he would give the fake ID work orders to a man and then pick up the finished fake IDs from him at the Irvine Spectrum shopping mall in Orange County. The man’s email address? Not too subtle: fakeidgarden1@yahoo.com.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis