CINCINNATI–-CBP officers in Cincinnati routinely encounter fraudulent driver’s licenses shipped into the United States through falsely manifested cargo.
Since the beginning of the year, Cincinnati CBP officers have seized 343 shipments containing 2,233 counterfeit drivers’ licenses, 1,607 laminates or cards for illicit production of drivers’ licenses, two stolen social security cards, five counterfeit or stolen passports, and one stolen visa. 
The counterfeit licenses originated in China and the passports were from various countries in Africa and South America. The shipments containing the fake documents were going to addresses across the United States, and many documents shared the same photograph with different names.
Fraudulent identity documents can lead to identity theft, worksite enforcement, and fraud linked to immigration-related crimes such as human smuggling and human trafficking. Fake documents can also be used by individuals associated with terrorism to minimize scrutiny from travel screening measures.
“The use of counterfeit IDs is often linked to terrorist cells, human trafficking, and other illicit and dangerous activities,” said Richard Gillespie, Cincinnati Port Director. “Our officers are trained to identify many different kinds of fake or illegally modified documents and they work 24/7 to stop them from coming into the country.”
CBP officers coordinate findings with CBP’s Fraudulent Document Analysis Unit, Homeland Security Investigations and other federal partners in an effort to combat this illicit activity.
CBP routinely conducts inspection operations on arriving and departing international flights and intercepts narcotics, weapons, currency, prohibited agriculture products, counterfeit goods, and other illicit items at our nation’s 328 international ports of entry.