China is flooding the United States with fake driver’s licenses produced by high-tech forgery rings that are so accurate they could lead to breaches in homeland security.
The bogus licenses are sold on the Internet and also frequently smuggled into the U.S. inside boxes of tea sets and jewelry from China, according to CBS Chicago investigative reporter Dave Savini, who broke the story earlier this week.
Savini’s story was punctuated warnings this week from the Obama administration that Americans who have fought with the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have returned to this country, many under aliases.
A senior administration official told reporters during a briefing Monday that the National Counterterrorism Center has estimated that about 100 Americans who have fought with ISIS and the al Qaeda al Nusra Front group have returned to the United States.
“It includes those who’ve gone, those who’ve tried to go, some who’ve come back and are under active — the FBI is looking at them,” the official said, according to Time magazine’s Zeke Miller.
The fake licenses are the latest incident involving illegal or subversive activities here that are linked to China.
Last May, a federal grand jury handed down indictments against members of a People’s Liberation Army unit dedicated to cyber espionage against American corporations.
