The bouncer’s eyes dart to your ID and then to your face. Outside of the bar, laughter echoes from the line as your heart pounds louder than the bass inside. For a moment, you bite your tongue, because this is it: the moment and the risk of the lie tucked down in your pocket.
This nerve-wracking feeling is ingrained into the hearts and minds of various students at Bexley who gamble having and using a fake ID.
Junior Elle Graham* said she recently bought her fake ID a website in a group order with eight of her friends.
Each person in an order receives two IDs, in case one is misplaced, Graham added.
“Mine looks pretty real, but they feel kind of flimsy, which gives it away,” she explained. “They are good enough for what they’re being used for.”
Graham said she uses her ID to purchase items at convenience stores that are strictly sold to customers ages 21 plus or to get into bars downtown.
“I probably use it three times a month at max, which is how often I intended to use it when I purchased it,” she added.
Senior Cooper Clark* said he also purchased his fake ID to get into bars, clubs and events that are limited to people 21 years old and older.
“Almost everyone I hang out with uses their fake ID pretty frequently, so I don’t ever really think about getting in trouble,” Clark said. “It’s normalized at this age to have one.”
Senior Riley Duke* said she has been denied from a bar once while using her fake ID.
“I think I got denied because the bar was too full, not because the bouncer thought my ID was fake,” she explained. “I bet everyone trying to get into that bar was using a fake ID, too.”
Graham said owning a fake ID scares her because if she accidentally pulled out the wrong ID at the wrong time, it could result in legal consequences.
Bexley High School graduate Roger Reynolds* said he has been caught with a fake ID, and it was really embarrassing.
Reynolds was pulling his fake ID out of his wallet, and his real ID was accidentally visible to the bouncer in front of him, he explained. The bouncer denied him entry to the bar and told him to go home.
Graham explained she once was denied the sale of an adult product due to her fake ID not scanning as a real ID at the gas station.
“I was honestly just annoyed to find out one of my IDs didn’t scan because that’s what I thought I paid for,” she said. “I am happy [the salesman] didn’t take it from me, though.”
Duke said this was the only time she has ever been stopped while using her fake ID, which is from a different online site.
She explained she thinks purchasing fake IDs is very common amongst high schoolers. Duke said she estimated over half of the people attending college-town bars are under 21.
Clark explained it doesn’t matter how convincing the ID is: as long as the person in the photo looks somewhat similar to the one using it, then it’s usable.
“Before I bought my own fake ID, I would just use an extra from a friend, and it always worked,” she added.
Graham also said bouncers usually don’t care if the person using the ID isn’t identical to the photo on the card.
“It’s honestly way too easy to get into bars underage,” she said. “I know some people have had success using an ID that looks nothing like them.”
Senior Jared Watkins* said although he doesn’t know of anyone getting in serious trouble for using a fake ID, he doesn’t want to buy one until it will serve him better.
“I will probably wait until my freshman year of college to buy one because that’s when everyone uses them,” Watkins explained.
Graham said her parents have no idea about her fake ID, and if they did know about it, she would be in big trouble.
“I do feel guilty about having a fake because I know my family would not be happy with me, and I would probably get grounded,” she said.
On the other hand, Reynolds said his parents are aware of him owning a fake ID, and when he didn’t have one, they gave him his cousin’s to borrow.
Junior Amanda Mount* said she hasn’t saught a fake ID because she thinks she is way too young for one.
“Nobody in their right mind should buy their own fake ID at 16, 17 or even 18 years old,” she added.
Mount explained the punishments are far worse than most teenagers assume when purchasing one. The potential legal consequences are very serious, she added.
Clark said the feeling of using his fake ID is thrilling, and unlike some of his peers, he never gets nervous while using it.
“It’s not just the piece of plastic that is fun to have, though,” he explained. “It’s essentially a ticket to everything we’re told we’re too young to have.”
*Names have been changed
