It sounds too tempting: you just have to send your data and a scanned signature and you can get a driving license of your choice from Germany, Austria or Switzerland for just 1,500 euros. Something can't be right, right? That's right, pretty much everything about it is illegal and pure advance fee fraud!

The dubious driving schools

Apparently there is a whole network of sites that claim that you can easily get any driving license: simply send the data via WhatsApp, in some cases also pay in advance, and within seven days or less you will have your driving license .

This is how one of the pages we received inquiries about presents itself, as the link appears to be shared on social media:

Just one of the many dubious driving license providers
Just one of the many dubious driving license providers

2065 satisfied customers with 3187 driving licenses issued results in a satisfaction level of just 64.7 percent. So little, when you supposedly get a legal license in “ just 4 working days ” without having to take a driving test, and legally too?

Not just red, but even a false flag

We already encounter the first “red flag” when we choose which country we want our driving license from, because somehow we remember the German flag differently:

Very well known: The red-black-golden German flag
Very well known: The red, black and gold German flag

By the way, it doesn't matter which flag you click on: we always end up on the “service-details.html” page, which doesn't exist. Sloppy programming, so all we can do is contact via WhatsApp and email, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Apparently a lot of customers but still a very young site

We check the age of the site using the Whois domain tools (see HERE ). Not surprising to us: The site has only existed since September 30th , and the owner of the site has had himself anonymized using a service in the USA:

MIMIKAMA
A still young site, source: DomainTools

Curiously, on the same day, September 30th , a Facebook page created with the name of the alleged driving school, with the profile text: “ The Koblen driving school is one of the best driving schools in Germany, founded since 1958 ” - that is probably the longest Duration of establishment ever! Apparently the site wasn't particularly active.

The Facebook page is orphaned and the admin apparently is no longer on Facebook
The Facebook page is orphaned and the admin apparently is no longer on Facebook

Other red flags on the homepage

According to the homepage, the driving school has 15 years of experience, but two things they have no experience in are spelling and correct information (in addition to the sloppy programming of the homepage).

Not only are there many spelling and grammatical errors and a constant alternation between “you” and “you” on the page, which suggests that a translation program was used, but there is also no complete address. Oh, there is one indication: Berlin. For a “Koblenz driving school”. But maybe Koblenz is also the last name? We'll probably never know.

We'll get in touch!

But at least there is an email address and a WhatsApp number, so we'll try to find out how to get a driver's license in these ways. Unfortunately there was no response to the email request, but the WhatsApp request was successful and quite informative!

A driving instructor created with an AI

We now have some experience with recognizing artificially generated images, which is of great benefit to us in this case. The WhatsApp profile contains an alleged photo of the driving instructor, but upon closer inspection it is extremely suspicious:

The alleged driving instructor
The alleged driving instructor

No, we are not violating any personal rights by publishing this photo, because the man in the photo does not exist:

  1. The hairline is not in the middle, but has slipped to the left
  2. The visible ear appears cut off
  3. A transparent second earlobe is visible on the earlobe
  4. The shoulders on the left and right have the same transparent “shadows” as the earlobe
  5. The biggest problem with AI, but often only visible under magnification: the teeth, which often have a very characteristic white edge

Other mini details include irregular wrinkle distributions and pixel fragments like under his left eye, which we won't go into in detail. However, the totality of the points clearly shows that the photo was created with an AI.

A short dialogue with “you” and you”

When contacting via WhatsApp, it is also noticeable that people constantly switch between “you” and “you”:

Driver's License Trek: The First Contact
Driver's License Trek: The First Contact

So let's take a look at what you need to get a driver's license. Driving school? Theoretical and practical exams? Fitness test? Not at all:

It should be so easy to get a driver's license
It should be so easy to get a driver's license

To obtain a Class B driving license you must provide us with the following:

  1. Last name
  2. Surname
  3. birth date
  4. Place of birth
  5. Photo 4×4
  6. Signature (sign on a piece of paper, take a photo and send it to us)

We will send your details to the authorities along with those of our students who have passed the driving test and your driving license will be issued in 03 days. This process costs 1500 euros and there is no advance payment. You send your details, we have your driving license created, we send you a photo of it, you pay if you are satisfied, then we send you the driving license by post

So the “04” days become just “03” days, but apart from that, here is the procedure in brief:

  • You should send the data, a photo and a photographed signature
  • You will then be sent a photo of the completed driving license
  • If you are happy with it (excuse me??), you should pay 1,500 euros
  • You would then receive your driver’s license in the mail

There's almost nothing wrong with that!

Let's think logically for a moment: If the driver's license was supposedly issued by a real authority, why do you first get a photo and the question whether you are "satisfied" with it? Would the authorities issue the driver's license again if the photo doesn't fit or what?

And have you ever seen the driving license authority issue a driver's license within three or four days? And you get it from the driving school? This usually takes around three weeks to create, and then you have to pick up your driving license from the authorities or have it sent directly to you by the authorities.

And then, of course, such a signature must be made personally on an official document - simply taking a photo of a blank signature is certainly not sufficient for the authorities!

What you really need for a driver's license

On the website of the driving license office (see HERE ) it is very clear which documents the responsible driving license offices require for a new driving license:

  • a valid identity card or passport with a current registration certificate
  • a biometric photo
  • for classes D and D1, an additional police certificate of good conduct

The dubious sites do not require any of this, just basic information, a photo and a photographed signature. Every authority would laugh and wave it off!

So what do you get if you take up the offer?

There are two options:

  1. You actually get a driving license (if you “like it”), but it is then fake, which leads to you committing a crime
  2. You don't get a driver's license, but you're out of money

The latter is not uncommon, as numerous media reports repeatedly show (see e.g. HERE and HERE and HERE ). Either way, trying to get a driver's license from dubious sites is a bad choice because you're either committing a crime (and the police know how to spot a fake driver's license!) or you're out of money.

Identity theft can also occur: With the data, photo and signature, it is easy for criminals to, for example, create a fake ID card and then use it to open bank accounts. So it's very possible that the trouble with the lost money is far from over!

We report on such cases again and again, for example here: A page on Facebook promises a legal and valid Austrian driving license.
But without driving and theory tests this can never be legal! – Driving license without a test? Or identity theft?


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Notes:
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