History Main / MinorWithFakeID

In the early days, identification was nothing more than a laminated piece of card stock, which made forgery extremely easy. As many jurisdictions incorporate more sophisticated security features into their identification documents, they have become increasingly difficult to recreate. In these cases, it is more practical to steal a real ID from an older sibling or an IdenticalStranger, or to apply for a real one under false pretenses.

** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E20BartOnTheRoad "Bart on the Road"]], during a hastily organized [[TakeYourKidToWorkDayPlot Take Your Kid to Work Day]] which sees Bart spend the day with his aunts at the DMV, Bart makes a fake driver's license stating he is 25, rents a car and convinces Milhouse, Nelson and Martin to come with him to a World's Fair in Knoxville, TN (which was actually held in 1982).

** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E20BartOnTheRoad "Bart on the Road"]], during a hastily organized Take Your Kid to Work Day which sees Bart spend the day with his aunts at the DMV, Bart makes a fake driver's license stating he is 25, rents a car and convinces Milhouse, Nelson and Martin to come with him to a World's Fair in Knoxville, TN (which was actually held in 1982).

* One episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' opens with Drake explaining a plan to get into a show at an adults-only club using fake [=IDs=] to Josh. It then cuts to them being brought home by the police as the plan did not work, likely because the fake names were suspiciously cool sounding. Later in the episode when they end up with some actual criminals they protect themselves by using the same fake names and pretending to be adult criminals too. HilarityEnsues.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* Many examples at ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'', but also a weird inversion: [[https://notalwaysright.com/youre-only-as-old-as-you-act/69078/ A woman in her seventies]] who insists on being ID checked when buying a bottle of wine, produces a fake ID that says she's 17, and then says "Oh, dear! You’ve caught me! I’m much too young to be buying this!" and skips away.

* Traci Lords used fake documentation to perform in adult films until the ruse was exposed, which resulted in her films being pulled from distribution (as they were now legally child porn) and a more careful approach by the industry to verify performers' backgrounds.

* ''Film/SuperBad'': Fogell gets a dubious fake ID, a Hawaiian driver's license that just says "[=McLovin=]", to buy booze for a party. Somehow, this fools the clerk at the liquor store, and seemingly fools the two cops responding to the robbery that occurred as Fogell was buying alcohol. The latter invite him to ride along with them, but they eventually reveal they knew it was fake all along and just wanted to have some fun and show him not all cops are assholes.

* In ''Film/VegasVacation'', underage Rusty obtains a fake ID to gamble. While it might fool the pit bosses if he was only interested in playing nickel slots, he soon starts winning cars and sends them to a motel on the city outskirts, which would have been checked by the casino.
* Parodied in ''Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet''. Schmidt and Jenko, undercover cops in their mid-twenties, decide to throw a WildTeenParty in order to get close with the high school drug dealers. At one point, they wonder how they are going to get alcohol for the party, since neither one has a fake ID. Right after saying this, they burst into laughter, go to the liquor store and buy shopping carts full of it.

* ''Film/BetterLuckTomorrow'': The gang all have fake [=IDs=], which they use to buy liquor and go to casinos despite being 16-17. When the ID cards are called out as fake, they bribe the person checking it, which in one case involves giving a police officer in Vegas several hundred dollars.
* In ''Film/AsianSchoolGirls'', Vivian manufactures the fake [=IDs=] she and her friends use to get into the nightclub, and later to get jobs at the strip joint. They are good enough to foil the bouncers at the club and the owner of the strip joint, although it is implied that nightclub attracts a lot of underage trade and so the bouncers probably weren't looking too closely.

* ''Film/RevengeOfTheNerds'': In the second movie, Wormser has a few of these that he uses to buy some beer. They backfire on him when they get arrested and he tries to claim he's a minor to get off the hook, but the cop replies "Not what it says here, Senator Wormser".

* One episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' opens with Drake explaining a plan to get into a show at an adults-only club using fake [=IDs=] to Josh. It then cuts to them being brought home by the police as the plan did not work, likely because the fake names were suspiciously cool sounding. Later in the episode when they end up with some actual criminals they protect themselves by using the same fake names and pretending to be adult criminals too. HilarityEnsues.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'', "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet". Hawkeye discovers a young private, Walter (Creator/RonHoward), is actually named Wendell and stole his brother's ID to enlist in the Army. Hawkeye decides at first to let this slide, but after an old friend turns up as a patient and dies, Hawkeye reports Wendell to the [=MPs=].
* ''Series/GroundedForLife'': Brad learns a JerkJock, Scott, (who used to bully Brad) has a fake ID and asks him to buy beer for him, but Scott rips him off. Sean and Eddie coerce him into buying the beer for real, but just as Scott tries to buy the beer, a cop walks in, checks his ID and arrests him.

* ''Series/HappyDays'' episode "The Skin Game", Richie and Potsie use fake [=IDs=] to get into a strip joint (where it turns out they don't strip down, shall we say, "substantially", this being the '50s, much to Richie's chagrin). He is later caught by his father, who also happened to be visiting there that night.
* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'' episode "The Older Woman", where Willis uses a fake ID -- along with a fake mustache -- to get into a nightclub. While he narrowly misses just-happened-to-be-there Mr. Drummond, Willis is found out when the older woman he picked up at the nightclub comes to visit him at home.

* ''Series/FridayNightLights'', Tim Riggins has one that identifies him as a member of the military. It's heavily implied that the liquor store owner is well aware it's a fake, but he lets Riggins buy beer anyway because he's a Panther.

* ''Series/HeyDad'': In one episode, Debbie borrows Nudge's driver's licence so she can get into a nightclub. Interestingly, this plot worked when the episode was originally aired as at the time New South Wales licences did not have a photo and could have only the driver's initials: in this case 'G. Noritas', allowing Debbie to claim to be 'Geraldine'. Not long afterwards, the law changed in New South Wales requiring the licence to have the driver's full name and photo.
* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One With The Thanksgiving Flashbacks", it was revealed that Chandler and Ross apparently had fake [=IDs=] when they were college freshmen. Ross was 'Clifford Alverez' and Chandler was 'Roland Chan'.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Mixology Certification", Annie (who is only 19) is talked into using the ID of Britta's friend to get into the bar with the others. She is pretty nervous but the coup works out.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': A plot point in "Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure". Troy Kroger and his friends find the dead body of a bank robber, and a map to where they think the robbery money is buried. Before enlisting Monk's help to track down the money, they even pick the robber's wallet and phone off him, with Troy's friends trying to use the guy's ID to buy beer at a minimart. The ruse doesn't work on the clerk, who goes to school with them ("There's no way you're 47," he says). Monk realizes what they've done after the police identify the dead robber and he learns the dead man's age.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': In "Nailed", Chuck offhandedly mentions that as a high schooler, Jimmy forged fake [=IDs=] for his friends to buy liquor.

* There’s a ''{{Series/CSI}}'' episode where Catherine is called to a scene at a nightclub and finds her daughter Lindsay there; she’d snuck in with a fake ID

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' has one episode where Sabrina and Valerie try to get fake [=IDs=] so they can get into a club where N*Sync are playing. The first set of [=IDs=] are hilariously unconvincing (depicting a cross-eyed redhead and a middle aged black man) but the second set come from the Other Realm and get them in. Unfortunately these [=IDs=] talk and Sabrina's fake ID makes her magic fake.

If questioned, the imposter may rely on a ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory. If the quality of the forgery is so low that it would never fool anyone, or if the holder makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is fake, see BadgeGag. Can result in a CoverIdentityAnomaly. Expect to see a MasterForger making these. See also TotallyEighteen.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "The Kids Run Ayay", Louise tries to get an hotel room showing the clerk a fake ID stating she is 43. It doesn't work.

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' has one episode where Sabrina and Valerie try to get fake IDs so they can get into a club where N*Sync are playing. The first set of IDs are hilariously unconvincing (depicting a cross-eyed redhead and a middle aged black man) but the second set come from the Other Realm and get them in. Unfortunately these IDs talk and Sabrina's fake ID makes her magic fake.

* In the 1960 original ''Film/WhereTheBoysAre'' Tuggle Carpenter is an under-age college student who shows the barman fake ID which says she is 25- and 5'2". She is played by the 5'10" Paula Prentiss.[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'': In "Drunks" Nitz decides to try drinking for the first time and has his friend Gimpy make him a fake ID after his friend Jessie reveals her own. His other friend, Rocko, has a homemade ID (pictured) that is just his photo stapled to a piece of cardboard with "I am 21 so drinking is yes" written on it, which somehow gets him several bars (most likely the bouncers didn't care). Gimpy meanwhile starts a business of making fake [=IDs=] for underage drinkers.

* One episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' opens with Drake explaining a plan to get into a show at an adults-only club using fake IDs to Josh. It then cuts to them being brought home by the police as the plan did not work, likely because the fake names were suspiciously cool sounding. Later in the episode when they end up with some actual criminals they protect themselves by using the same fake names and pretending to be adult criminals too. HilarityEnsues.

* Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s Wrestling/MassTransitIncident: The Gangstas (Wrestling/NewJack and Mustafa) [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were supposed to]] face [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys D-Von Dudley]] and Axl Rotten, but Axl no-showed. Eric Kulas, a seventeen-year-old kid with zero experience, showed up, lying about his age and about having been "trained" by Killer Kowalski, and offered to take Axl's place. He was billed as Mass Transit, a wrestling bus driver based on Ralph Kramden from ''Series/TheHoneymooners''. According to New Jack's episode of ''Series/DarkSideOfTheRing'', Kulas (who obviously lacked the knowledge of locker room etiquette) tried to lay out some of the match's progress (an action viewed as vastly overstepping his bounds), including suggesting that New Jack blade him. New Jack took offense to the jobber's impudence and [[{{Understatement}} took liberties]] that included slicing open his forehead with a scalpel and generally beating the hell out of him, prompting Kulas' father to yell, "Ring the fucking bell! He's seventeen!"

** Several episodes later, Hawk obtains one identifying him as 25 year old "[[AtrociousAlias Walter Hawkman]]" so he can buy booze for the Cobra Kai beach party. He thinks it's flawless, but it really only works because the cashier doesn't care about teens buying alcohol (in part due to Daniel getting his rent jacked up). When he tries using it at Applebee's in the second season opener, it doesn't work and the group has to settle for ordering a bunch of appetizers (with Hawk begging Aisha not to tell her social media followers this since his mother follows her on Instagram).

* In ''Film/AsianSchoolGirls'', Vivian manufactures the fake [=IDs=] she and her friends use to get into the nightclub, and later to get jobs at the strip joint. They are good enough to foll the bouncers at the club and the owner of the strip joint, although it is implied that nightclub attracts a lot of underage trade and so the bouncers probably weren't looking too closely.

If questioned, the imposter may rely on a ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory. If the quality of the forgery is so low that it would never fool anyone, or if the holder makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is fake, see BadgeGag. Can result in a CoverIdentityAnomaly. Expect to see a MasterForger making these.