Counterfeits on the dark web (fake banknotes, fake passports, luxury fakes…)

Important clarifications:

– A great many fraudsters operate on the dark web. It is therefore entirely possible that some of the sites we mention are pure and simple scams.

– This series is not intended to promote dark web sites, nor to give advice on transacting safely on them. Its only purpose is to describe the kinds of goods and services offered for sale within the dark web. For that reason we give no site addresses, and any contact details appearing in the screenshots are blurred.

Among the products offered for sale on the dark web, counterfeits hold a privileged place. Few marketplaces are without one or more forgers.

The counterfeits most commonly encountered are:

1. Fake banknotes (fake 100-euro notes, 20-euro notes…)
2. Fake identity documents (fake ID cards, fake passports)
3. All manner of fake documents (fake sick notes, fake certificates…)
4. Counterfeit luxury goods (Chanel bags, Rolex and Cartier watches…)

1 – Fake banknotes (euro)

How do you obtain fake euro notes?

Counterfeits of the most common currencies can be found on the dark web: euro, dollar, yuan, pound sterling. Fake notes are offered by sellers on marketplaces or directly through individual shops — as with the trader below, who offers several currencies.

Home page of the Bazaar Plastic site

fake euro notes on the dark web

fake Chinese notes on the dark web

As usual, every counterfeiter will extol the quality of their fakes. Here the notes are offered as fakes and the customer buys them in full knowledge. We can suppose, however, that some forgers have another way of moving their goods.

One site claims to sell genuine used notes withdrawn from circulation, which a team embedded inside the institutions supposedly manages to spirit away before they are destroyed.

Home page of the Buy Real Money site

If we make the very unlikely assumption that this site is not a pure and simple scam, then two questions arise:

• What interest would anyone have in supplying genuine cash for less than its face value?
• How can the cash be confirmed as genuine?

If this site does send cash to buyers, the notes in question may well be fakes — and it is in any case replicated across more than 1,800 dubious copies, or scam mirrors.

2 – Fake identity documents (fake passports, fake ID cards, fake licences…)

Fake papers are a much sought-after commodity on the dark web. Passports are offered most often, but a certain variety of identity documents can be found, such as ID cards and driving licences.

Home page of the FakeID site

Examples of passports for sale on the FakeID site

French documents — driving licences, ID cards, passports, residence permits — are counterfeited too, as the two screenshots below show.

Site selling fake French papers, including a residence permit

Site specialising in producing fake payslips

What are fictitious payslips for?

Fake payslips are most often used to put together consumer credit applications. Some forgers even sell special packs for that purpose, containing scans of every document needed for an application. Those packs can mix fake documents with genuine ones — authentic payslips taken from stolen data, for instance.

A forger’s advertisement on the Trollodrome

3 – All manner of fake documents

An impressive variety of documents can also be found: fake diplomas, prescriptions, vehicle registration papers…

Fake Russian online prescriptions for Phenazepam can be obtained

A fake Russian vehicle registration document can be bought

Fake diplomas can also be found

In a period of health restrictions, it was of course predictable that forgers would produce fake passes — fake French vaccination certificates.

Fake vaccination certificate for sale

Fake documents are most often sold in physical form. Some forgers, however, also sell Photoshop project files (PSD). These let buyers produce one or more images resembling a scanned identity document, and change the details on them at will.

Seller of Photoshop project files for fake identity document scans

4 – Counterfeit luxury goods (fake Rolex and Cartier watches, fake Hermès and Chanel bags…)

Counterfeiting luxury goods is a more limited activity on the dark web — probably because these fakes are so easily acquired by more conventional means, from street selling to clear web sellers. In the past, individual sellers could be found on the dark web, such as the now defunct Replica Watches, which specialised in luxury timepieces.

Home page of the Replica Watches site

Today, sellers of counterfeit luxury goods appear to operate mainly on marketplaces, where replicas of major brands can be found. The trend is pushing some groups to monitor the counterfeits circulating on the dark web. Among our customers are many groups who do not hesitate to set up dark web monitoring through our search engine.

Counterfeit leather goods

Counterfeit luxury clothing

Selling fakes is therefore a very widespread activity on the dark web. Onion sites certainly do not represent the greatest threat to luxury goods, given how modest the offering is. Trade in fake identity papers, however, appears very common, and can pose a threat to states and to credit institutions.

Selling weapons and drugs

Financial operations