Despite potential legal consequences including driver’s license suspension, businesses around Conway say they regularly see and confiscate fake IDs, and one UCA student said theirs has worked almost everywhere they’ve tried.

Conway police officer Jim Moye, who has been with the department for a year and a half, said, “I have not come into contact with a fake ID yet.”

He said if a business accepts a fake ID, the penalty “depends a lot on whether they attempted to actually verify the minor’s ID and if the minor comes into the places with the direct attempt to try to purchase alcohol.”

If the business is deemed guilty, it is a Class B misdemeanor.

“A subsequent violation of this section is a Class A misdemeanor. So basically, for the person being in possession of the actual ID itself is a misdemeanor,” he said.

Bouncer Ron Ison of Bear’s Den Pizza on Farris Road said he receives a fake ID “every night,” but it “depends on what night.”

“Most of the time, Friday and Saturday, I probably turn around 15 a night. But it’s more than that,” he said.

He said the bar’s policy is to scan the ID; if it’s fake, the bar usually keeps it and tells the person to leave.

“I may ban them in the system, see if they try to come back with a different one,” he said. “We’re not gonna go call the cops or nothing.”

Ison said he can tell if it’s a fake because he’s seen “so many over the years.”

“Some of them are … they just look different and feel different and not always identical. Now, I’m sure some people get in with a fake that looks great. But other people who [do], it’s egregious. It’s ridiculous.”

He said, “Some people are indifferent, some people may try to argue and some people just automatically turn around.

“Every now and then, there’s somebody that tries to argue, and then I have to point out to them why it’s fake,” he said.

Bouncer David of King’s Live Music on Front Street, who did not provide his last name, said the bar receives a fake ID probably two to three times a week.

“We just take them. We don’t do anything other than that,” he said.

He said customers usually “don’t really care if they know they’re caught.”

An anonymous UCA student said they have used their fake ID across central Arkansas at Mr. Smoke, Lake Liquor, Boulevard Wine and Spirits, Legacy Wine and Spirits, Kings, Bear’s Den, Brewski’s, Trinity’s, Electric Cowboy and “pretty much any gas station,” such as Valero and Casey’s.

They said they joined a Snapchat group chat with 10 to 15 people around Arkansas when they ordered it.

“My friend told me about this group chat they were in that people were ordering fakes through, so I joined it and put in an order,” they said. “It wasn’t a website. I told the guy I ordered it from all the information and gave him a picture.”

They said the IDs, which cost $70 for two, shipped together and one person in the group distributed them.

They said they were afraid of being caught the first few times.

“But after a while, I was pretty confident I wouldn’t get caught,” they said.

They said it didn’t scan once at a Tobacco Superstore, but the employee “didn’t seem to care too much.”

“She just told me sorry that it wouldn’t scan and that she couldn’t sell to me,” they said. “She did give me the ID back.”

“I’ve never had any issues with it since then,” they said.

They said most places scan it and “don’t even look at the picture on the ID, honestly.”