The German Federal Police say that they have arrested three people who are suspected of running fake identity card vendor account “FakeIDDobby” on multiple darkweb markets.
The Federal Police Inspection for Combating Crime in Halle (Saale) has published a press release where he accuses the suspects of selling provisional German Identity cards and Identity documents for Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. They say that the suspects used the “FakeIDDobby” vendor account on several darkweb markets. The FakeIDDobby account operated on Wallstreet Market, Nightmare Market and Empire Market. German authorities say that the suspects earned 45,000 through the sale of the forged identity documents.
German police said that the arrest of the suspects arrest came after an extensive investigation carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt Main, Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) and the Federal Police Inspection for Combating Crime in Halle (Saale). Cooperation with the Federal Criminal Police Office. Investigation commenced in 2019 when the trio’s listings for the sale of forged documents were found on dark web markets.
German authorities were able to identify the suspects through the investigation, authorities were able to show all of their sales transactions. The Investigators used the evidence obtained to acquire search warrants against the suspects’ properties.
Investigators executed this search warrants on January 20, 2021. The three suspects’ homes in Magdeburg and in an office in Magdeburg that was used as a forgery workshop by the suspects was searched. The search warrants resulted in the seizure of storage devices and forgery devices that were used in making fake identity cards, The following items were seized:
- Printers
- Printing Plates
- Seals
- Chemicals
- Foil Elements
The raid by German authorities resulted in the arrest and detention of two 24 year olds who have been charged with 140 counts of commercial forgery of documents. The third suspect, who is 23 year old was released after the searches were executed.
We are increasingly observing how the virtual space is used to commit crimes. The supposed protection of identity through anonymity is exploited by those involved to make prosecution more difficult Police and judicial authorities have in the past increased their digital skills in terms of personnel and technology. This process has shown that these efforts are paying off.
Chief Police Officer Romy Töwe
The suspects could face a sentencing of six months to ten years in prison if found guilty of forging identity cards.