YOUNG people can easily obtain fake proof-of-age cards and exam certificates on the Internet, North Yorkshire trading standards officials have discovered.
During a supervised investigation, the 14-year-old son of an official was able to apply successfully for a card saying he was 18 and for a set of bogus exam qualifications. The price of the proof-of-age card was £25 and the exam qualifications cost £240.
The fakes were obtained with a credit card with no checks being carried out.
Trading standards say at least 20 sites based in Britain were offering fake ID and related material for sale, including student and employee cards, with links to hundreds of others worldwide.
The investigation was carried out jointly by North Yorkshire and Cumbria trading standards.
Now the national Trading Standards Institute is to send the results of the study to Home Secretary David Blunkett.
Updated: 10:27 Wednesday, June 23, 2004
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