With his palms sweaty, knees weak and a slight hope the bouncer would not look too closely at his ID, a freshman at Iowa State recalled the first time he used his fake identification.

“My philosophy is that everyone and their dog has a fake ID, so I feel like they are not going to be too worried about it,” the freshman said. “I would like to think I’m pretty safe about it.”

This person wished not to disclose his name because he could receive legal ramifications for possessing a fake ID.

As Ames is full of college students and bars requiring students be 21 or older as dictated by the city of Ames, sergeant of the Safe Neighborhood Team, Mike Arkovich said the purpose of false identifications is to obtain alcohol.

An EverFi Insight Report took responses from AlcoholEdu to get a sample of how many college freshmen use fake IDs. The report did not include respondents who were 21 years and older, did not identify as transfer students and reported no alcohol use in the past two weeks. The final sample included 7,233 students from 194 colleges in 37 states.

The survey found about 7.7 percent of incoming freshmen indicated they possess a fake ID. 

Students with a fake ID were twice as likely to be a member of or intend to join a fraternity or sorority, according to the survey. Those students were 27 percent more likely to take the survey after fall classes started, the survey found, suggesting students were more likely to find a fake ID after being on campus.

Wanting to purchase alcohol underage, the freshman decided to ask a family member who resembled him to use their ID at a concert in June 2014. After obtaining the ID, the freshman continued to use it to make other alcohol purchases throughout the year.

While in Ames, the freshman only uses his ID to purchase alcohol at locations he believes are low risk.

“[The ID] is expired, so I can’t go anywhere it would scan,” the freshman said.

He also doesn’t use it in bars in fear of being caught.

“If a police officer would come, that could get shady real quick if they ask me to provide valid identification,” the freshman said.

While the freshman understands the severe consequences, he said he believes there are benefits to having a fake ID, such as going to establishments that serve alcohol with friends and being able to purchase alcohol himself.

“It just takes out the middle man,” the freshman said.

Being in possession of an artificial ID is a serious misdemeanor, while being in possession of another person’s ID is a simple misdemeanor. This does not only suspend the person who is in possession of the ID, but the original owner of the ID as well.

“When we find someone with somebody else’s ID, we charge them with possession of fake ID and then we will send the ID into the Department of Transportation and they will take administrative action,” Arkovich said.

Dealing with fake IDs are a weekly occurrence for Arkovich. He said while bars do a good job at confiscating fraudulent IDs, they are still found when police patrol on the weekends, especially in Campustown.

“We will find both those types of IDs at the bars or while we are just talking to somebody at a party,” Arkovich said.

Facilities that sell alcohol are given the opportunity once a month to send employees to be trained on identifying fake IDs.

Under state code, if someone is checking IDs and finds the ID fraudulent, the person checking may, by state law, take the ID and not be held liable if it turns out to be a real ID.

While some IDs are made well, Arkovich said it isn’t very difficult to tell the difference between real and fake.

“We have a lot of resources at the police department,” Arkovich said. “If we get one we are not real sure about, we can look it up and see what the real ID looks like and what it’s supposed to have.”

At the London Underground, owner Jess Clyde clarifies they take the ID and ask the person to leave. Later, the establishment hands in the fake ID to the police station.

While London Underground’s main market audience isn’t a younger crowd, being located in a college town causes weekend crowds to contain some college students.

“It’s hard to be successful without some college crowd,” Clyde said.

Bartenders check identification while taking drink orders and monitor space since the bar has view of the entire facility.

“They [bartenders] know that their liability is highest, of course,” Clyde said.

Consequence for places that serve alcohol to people under age is a citation, a fine for the bartender and a comparable fine for the establishment.

“We want to make sure our regulation reflects responsible habits,” Clyde said. “The bartender will go through a program, about 90 minutes, where you learn how to cover and check IDs, and how to ensure you’re not serving minors.”

While these programs are available to help stop the use of fake IDs, it doesn’t prevent students from finding sly ways to use theirs.

“I like to do my hair like my family member’s in the picture,” the freshman said. “I have a beard, and my family member also had a beard.”