Fake IDs

Spotting a fake Florida driver's license

Published November 3, 2026 · 14 sources linked

How do you tell a real Florida driver's license from a fake?

Start with a genuine card's design. Florida's license agency, FLHSMV, names the security features of the design issued from May 2019 in a retail guide for businesses: a look-through element, a duplicate photograph, an optically variable ghost and data, a tactile authentication feature, UV ink and redundant data. FLHSMV introduced another design on September 30, 2026; earlier cards remain valid until they expire, so several designs coexist.

Florida licenses at a glance

Newest design: Issued since September 30, 2026, with Castillo de San Marcos on the front
Earlier designs: Valid until they expire
Features FLHSMV names for retailers: A look-through element, a duplicate photograph, an optically variable ghost and data, a tactile feature, UV ink and redundant data
A card issued under 21: A red box with the date until which the holder is under 21

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The barcode checked on every Florida card

When a Florida license barcode is scanned, AgeShield checks it for signs of forgery, works out the age and flags expiry. Staff still look at the card itself and make the call.

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Florida's license designs and when they changed

Florida has redesigned its licenses and ID cards several times since 2017. A redesign does not retire earlier cards: FLHSMV says cards stay in use until they expire or are replaced. The issue date helps identify the expected design. FLHSMV's downloadable materials include images of the 2026 card, front and back.

Florida driver's license designs still in use

Design	Issued	What FLHSMV says about it
Beach background	Until 2017	Out of circulation after June 2027, says the 2017 retail guide.
State seal, with a magnetic strip	August 2017 to August 2019	A pastel line drawing of the state seal and a large orange FL on white, with a magnetic strip on the back. Out of circulation after March 2027, says the 2019 retail guide.
State seal, no magnetic strip	From May 2019, modified from August 2020	The same look, with a tactile authentication feature and no magnetic strip. Its security features are named below.
Castillo de San Marcos	From September 30, 2026	The fort on the front with a manatee, an orange as the O in Florida and an alligator worked into the REAL ID star, and Space Shuttle Discovery on the back. FLHSMV names an image of the state seal as an enhanced security feature.

Design: Beach background
Issued: Until 2017
What FLHSMV says about it: Out of circulation after June 2027, says the 2017 retail guide.

Design: State seal, with a magnetic strip
Issued: August 2017 to August 2019
What FLHSMV says about it: A pastel line drawing of the state seal and a large orange FL on white, with a magnetic strip on the back. Out of circulation after March 2027, says the 2019 retail guide.

Design: State seal, no magnetic strip
Issued: From May 2019, modified from August 2020
What FLHSMV says about it: The same look, with a tactile authentication feature and no magnetic strip. Its security features are named below.

Design: Castillo de San Marcos
Issued: From September 30, 2026
What FLHSMV says about it: The fort on the front with a manatee, an orange as the O in Florida and an alligator worked into the REAL ID star, and Space Shuttle Discovery on the back. FLHSMV names an image of the state seal as an enhanced security feature.

FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2017 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, May 2019 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2020 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida launches newly designed driver licenses and identification cards, September 29, 2026

When FLHSMV dropped the magnetic strip in 2019, its announcement set the date rule quoted below. The announcement of the 2026 design sets no such date and says only that cards already issued stay valid until they expire.

Any credentials with a magnetic strip and no tactile feature with an issue date after August 31, 2019, are fraudulent.
FLHSMV, Modified driver license and ID card with enhanced security features, May 30, 2019

FLHSMV, Florida's new driver license and ID card FLHSMV, Florida launches newly designed driver licenses and identification cards, September 29, 2026 FLHSMV, Modified driver license and ID card with enhanced security features, May 30, 2019 FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2020 (PDF)

The security features FLHSMV publishes

FLHSMV writes its retail guide for businesses that use Florida cards to verify identity or age. For the design issued from May 2019, it names these security features:

A look-through element
A duplicate photograph
An optically variable ghost and data
A tactile authentication feature
UV ink
Redundant data

FLHSMV's retail guide for cards issued from August 2020 shows what each feature looks like and how to check it. Guides and sample images for earlier designs are on the downloadable materials page.

A colored header names the card type: green for a driver's license, red for an ID card, blue for a commercial license and orange for a learner's license. For the 2026 design, FLHSMV's page names redundant data, tactile security features, UV ink and optically variable features, and its announcement names an image of the state seal as an enhanced security feature.

FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2020 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, May 2019 (PDF)FLHSMV, Downloadable materials for the Florida driver license and ID card FLHSMV, Florida's new driver license and ID card FLHSMV, Florida launches newly designed driver licenses and identification cards, September 29, 2026

A Florida card issued under 21

Florida law requires licenses issued to people under 21 to carry markings or color obviously distinct from all others. FLHSMV's retail guide shows the under-21 license in a vertical format, which the card design standard of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) makes mandatory for US cards issued under 21. FLHSMV's page says a card held by someone under 21 shows a red box with the date until which the holder is under 21.

Compare that date with today's. Whether a vertical card still counts once its holder turns 21 is covered in vertical IDs after 21.

Fla. Stat. 322.141 FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2020 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida's new driver license and ID card AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard, 2025 (PDF)

What any card under the AAMVA standard carries

FLHSMV's retail guide says Florida's card meets the 2016 edition of AAMVA's card design standard. Under the standard's current edition, a card carries a minimum set of features for first-line checks made without tools and for second-line checks that need a tool such as a UV light, a magnifier or a scanner, plus a PDF417 barcode. FLHSMV says the 2D barcode on a Florida card holds all the printed cardholder data.

The checks for any state's card, from the feel and the printing to the questions that catch a borrowed one, are in how to spot a fake ID. Texas's card has its own page: spotting a fake Texas driver's license.

AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard, 2025 (PDF)FLHSMV, Florida driver license and ID card retail guide, August 2020 (PDF)

What Florida law says about fake IDs

Florida's fake-ID offenses sit in its driver's license law. The ban on having, showing or selling a fake card reaches licenses and ID cards from other states as well as Florida's own, and any law enforcement agency may investigate a violation, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco included.

Florida offenses involving a fake or misused ID

Conduct	What the law says	Source
Having or showing a fake card	Knowingly having or displaying a forged, counterfeit, fictitious or unlawfully issued license or ID card, or anything made in its likeness, is a third-degree felony.	Fla. Stat. 322.212(1)(a), (6)
An altered birth date	Having a license or ID card with an altered date of birth is a second-degree misdemeanor.	Fla. Stat. 322.212(5)(b), (6)
Making or selling fakes	Knowingly making, selling or delivering one is a third-degree felony, and so is offering to.	Fla. Stat. 322.212(1)(d), (6)
Someone else's license	Lending a driver's license, or displaying one not issued to the person showing it, is a second-degree misdemeanor.	Fla. Stat. 322.32(2), (3)
Lying about age for alcohol	Misstating one's own or another's age to get alcohol for someone under 21, or a person under 21 buying or trying to buy it, is a second-degree misdemeanor. Where a Florida license or ID card was used, the court may add up to 40 hours of public service or community work.	Fla. Stat. 562.11(2)

Conduct: Having or showing a fake card
What the law says: Knowingly having or displaying a forged, counterfeit, fictitious or unlawfully issued license or ID card, or anything made in its likeness, is a third-degree felony.
Source: Fla. Stat. 322.212(1)(a), (6)

Conduct: An altered birth date
What the law says: Having a license or ID card with an altered date of birth is a second-degree misdemeanor.
Source: Fla. Stat. 322.212(5)(b), (6)

Conduct: Making or selling fakes
What the law says: Knowingly making, selling or delivering one is a third-degree felony, and so is offering to.
Source: Fla. Stat. 322.212(1)(d), (6)

Conduct: Someone else's license
What the law says: Lending a driver's license, or displaying one not issued to the person showing it, is a second-degree misdemeanor.
Source: Fla. Stat. 322.32(2), (3)

Conduct: Lying about age for alcohol
What the law says: Misstating one's own or another's age to get alcohol for someone under 21, or a person under 21 buying or trying to buy it, is a second-degree misdemeanor. Where a Florida license or ID card was used, the court may add up to 40 hours of public service or community work.
Source: Fla. Stat. 562.11(2)

Fla. Stat. 322.212 Fla. Stat. 322.32 Fla. Stat. 562.11

What staff may do with a suspected fake is covered in can a bar keep a fake ID?, and a genuine card in the wrong hands in borrowed IDs at the door.

Fla. Stat. 322.212 Fla. Stat. 322.32 Fla. Stat. 562.11

What Florida law says about the seller

Selling or serving alcohol to anyone under 21 is a crime in Florida. Against a criminal charge, a person has a complete defense when all three of these are true:

The buyer falsely showed that they were 21 or older
The buyer looked 21 or older to a reasonable person
Staff carefully checked a driver's license or ID card from Florida or another US state, a passport or a US Uniformed Services ID card, and acted in good faith on what the buyer claimed and how they looked

A licensee has a complete defense to a civil lawsuit on similar conditions, but not in an administrative action by the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. There the division's rule gives a defense on the false claim and the appearance where staff checked an ID from the rule's own list, and it recognizes no other type of ID. The same rule puts training on the licensee:

It is the responsibility of each licensee/permittee to provide and train their employees so that they will recognize or be able to compare an identification card presented by a customer with a facsimile of the legitimate identification card.
Fla. Admin. Code R. 61A-3.052

The rule adds that the division will tell a licensee who asks where identification source materials for training can be bought.

Florida's ID-scanning rules sit in its driver's license law. Apart from a swipe the customer consents to, it lists the purposes for which a business may swipe a card through a device that reads its magnetic strip or bar code. Two of them read:

(a) To verify the authenticity of a driver license or identification card or to verify the identity of the individual if the individual pays for a good or service with a method other than cash, returns an item, or requests a refund. (b) To verify the individual's age when providing an age-restricted good or service.
Fla. Stat. 322.143

Personal information collected from a swipe for either purpose may not be stored, sold or shared. The Florida guide covers that rule, the customer's consent, the manual alternative and the IDs each defense lists.

Fla. Stat. 562.11 Fla. Admin. Code R. 61A-3.052 Fla. Stat. 322.143

Where a scan fits with a Florida card

Staff check FLHSMV's listed features on the card itself. An AgeShield scan adds checks of a different kind: it checks a scanned Florida license or ID barcode for signs of forgery in every mode, works out the age and flags expiry.

In Secure mode it also compares the printed front with the barcode, so an edited birth date or expiry does not match. A flag is not proof that a card is fake and a clean result is not proof that it is genuine, so staff make the call.

Four emails a year

What changed in ID law, before it takes effect

Many state rules on IDs and age checks take effect on January 1 or July 1. Each quarter we send one short summary of the changes we found, with the source for every line, starting with the states you pick.

Common questions

Does Florida have a new driver's license design?

Yes. FLHSMV began issuing a new design on September 30, 2026, with Castillo de San Marcos on the front and Space Shuttle Discovery on the back. Floridians do not have to replace their cards, and FLHSMV says cards already issued stay valid until they expire, so earlier designs will be seen beside the new one.

Is a Florida license with a magnetic strip fake?

Not on its own. The designs issued until August 2019 had a magnetic strip and stay in use until they expire or are replaced. FLHSMV says a card issued after August 31, 2019 with a magnetic strip and no tactile feature is fraudulent. Its 2019 retail guide adds that cards with the earlier design and magnetic strip will not be in circulation after March 2027.

What is the penalty for a fake ID in Florida?

Knowingly having or showing a counterfeit or otherwise fake license or ID card is a third-degree felony under Fla. Stat. 322.212. Having a card with an altered date of birth is a second-degree misdemeanor, and so is showing a driver's license not issued to the person showing it, under 322.32.

Is a Florida bar liable if a minor used a fake ID?

Florida law gives the seller defenses for that case. It gives a complete defense to a criminal charge when the buyer falsely showed they were 21 or older, looked it to a reasonable person and staff carefully checked a listed ID in good faith. The civil defense works on similar conditions. In an administrative case, the division's rule gives a defense on the false claim, the appearance and a check of one of the IDs it lists.

Where can staff see what a real Florida license looks like?

FLHSMV publishes retail guides and sample card images on its website for businesses that check Florida cards. The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco's rule says the division will tell a licensee who asks where identification source materials for training can be bought.

Sources

This page is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal advice. We research each rule and link its source, so you can check it against your own venue. Questions are welcome at support@ageshield.bar.

Still unsure how Florida's rules apply to your venue?

Tell us what type of venue you run and we'll point you to the published rules we know of that may apply.

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