With a minimum estimated turnover of 1.3 million euros, VerifTools is considered one of the largest providers. The platform was easily found via multiple URLs. Visitors uploaded a passport photo, entered false information, and then generated an image of a fake ID. This image was downloaded after payment and subsequently used to conceal someone’s true identity. Many companies and institutions use so-called Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, which often only requires an image of an ID. By using VerifTools, that KYC control could be circumvented.

Prison Sentence
In the data center in Amsterdam, the police secured two physical servers and over 21 virtual servers. The users of VerifTools came from all over the world. If they visit the website now, they see a so-called ‘splash page’, a page with the message that the platform is offline. The police will further investigate the data on the servers, and it will also become clear whether the administrator and the users can be traced. A maximum prison sentence of 6 years applies to forgery, the false creation of an identity document, or false payment instruments.

Investigation
The Expertise Center for Identity Fraud and Documents (ECID), a collaboration between the Royal Marechaussee and the National Police, started an investigation into the website. It became clear that the obtained images were used to commit other criminal offenses. The extensive work of the ECID was handed over to the Rotterdam Cybercrime Team, which had already started a similar investigation and linked a suspect who was in possession of various images of fake IDs. Subsequently, the FBI in the United States stumbled upon the website during its own investigation, and the police in Wales also came across Verif Tools during an investigation into rental fraud. It became clear that Verif Tools was an important linchpin in a criminal infrastructure.

Criminals
Criminals take advantage of platforms like VerifTools because they can commit their fraud with the created documents, such as bank helpdesk fraud and phishing. In addition to generating images of fake identity documents such as passports and IDs from various countries, such websites can also be used to order false bank statements, false invoices, false residence permits, and more. This way, criminals can defraud their victims for a lot of money. Young people can also create images of fake IDs through such platforms to illegally enter a club, risking a criminal record for life.

Tip
The impact of using this service is very undermining and causes a lot of damage to banks and companies that use KYC verification. The police advise to carefully examine and compare IDs. Fake IDs often use the same background and a standard signature. Examples of this can be found in the photos below.