While many underage students try to use scannable fake IDs to buy alcohol from liquor stores or bars each year, the college has seen a surge in cases involving fake IDs.

Since the end of July, the University of Minnesota Police Department has checked 17 cases of fake IDs. There were three cases in 2014 and one in 2012. UMPD did not record any forged IDs in 2015 or 2013.

University representative Steve Henneberry said UMPD knew about incremental and was working on how to fix it.

Superintendent Mark Cullen of the Undergraduate Legal Administration Division said he was meeting with UMPD Lieutenant Chuck Miner when he heard Miner inspect a shipment of fake IDs tracked in a USPS shipment.

“By using a personal computer,” he said, “it is easier for an individual to obtain or make an [id card fake] that looks real.”

Police have been trying to take action against counterfeit IDs by using machines that can more directly identify fakes, Cullen said.

Using someone else’s ID or making a fake id is a crime, punishable by a year in prison and a fine of up to $3,000, but using a fake ID is an offense that could result in 90 days in prison and a fine, Cullen said. Fines up to $1,000.

Regardless, Cullen said first-time offenders, especially students, should often complete local administration and redirection programs through the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office.

Dinkytown Wine and Spirits owner Irv Hershkovitz said he had not seen an increase in students using fake IDs, but he had seized a large number of scannable fake IDs during the seven-day main course.

Hershkowitz said he often found students using their more sophisticated relative IDs to buy alcohol, but also saw students using the best fake IDs from abroad.

Students accused of using false IDs also have their cases reviewed by the college’s Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, Henneberry said.

Researchers are often prepared to avoid inconvenience because they quickly realize how bad the nearby liquor stores and bars are, Hershkowitz said.

“If you go to Minnetonka, they’re not as familiar with fake IDs as we are,” he said.

Hershkovitz said his liquor store uses electronic ID machines to check for fakes. Last year, he said, 600 id card fakes were seized from his liquor store and handed over to the Minneapolis Police Department.

Regardless, some researchers aren’t worried about the consequences of using fake IDs.

Emily, a 19-year-old college program student, said she received several fake IDs last year with a group of peers from the idgodvip.com website.

“I think it’s stupid that we can’t drink if we want to go out,” she said.

After Dinkytown’s Blarney Pub and Grill took her most memorable best fake id, she said she was mindful so she could take advantage of the rest.

“I’m very careful about where I use it or with whom I use it,” she said, adding that she only uses it more than once a month.

Claire, a 19-year-old history studies student, said she uses her ID card about a few times a week and doesn’t feel pressured to cause problems.

“If you do cause a problem, they just admit it and don’t actually do anything,” she said. “My biggest concern is not breaking the law because it just got taken and had to pay $120 for another scannable fake id.”