US arrests OnlyFake operator accused of selling over 10,000 AI-generated digital fake IDs

[midian182]

In brief: Federal prosecutors in New York say they've arrested and secured a guilty plea from the man behind OnlyFake. Unrelated to the popular adult-oriented platform with the similar name, OnlyFake sold AI-generated digital fake IDs designed to slip past the remote identity checks carried out by the likes of banks and crypto exchanges.

According to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, 27-year-old Ukrainian national Yurii Nazarenko (also known by several aliases, including "John Wick") was charged and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud involving identification documents and authentication features.

Prosecutors say OnlyFake was used to generate at least 10,000 fake identification documents from around 2021 and 2024, bringing in "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in the process.

OnlyFake let customers generate fake photos of IDs that looked like scans – or like a real card casually photographed on a tabletop – exactly the sort of "proof" accepted by many Know Your Customer (KYC) systems.

The DOJ says the site offered digital versions of driver's licenses for all 50 states, plus US passports, passport cards, Social Security cards, and passports for about 56 other countries. Payment was taken in cryptocurrency, with bulk discounts and packages of up to 1,000 IDs at once.

OnlyFake's rise was first highlighted by 404 Media in early 2024, when it noted that the service advertised "neural networks" and claimed it could produce realistic IDs quickly and cheaply.

In testing, the outlet said OnlyFake generated convincing documents within minutes, framing it as a potential turbocharger for financial fraud and money laundering.

A separate industry write-up around the same time warned that the "retail" ease of AI-powered synthetic IDs could make digital identity fraud far more accessible than traditional forgery workflows.

Prosecutors argue the real danger is that modern KYC programs often allow users to upload scans or photos of government IDs. The DOJ says OnlyFake's output could help bad actors circumvent those checks to conceal identities and launder money.

Nazarenko faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and agreed to forfeit $1.2 million, which prosecutors say represents the proceeds of the operation. The DOJ also notes he was extradited from Romania in September 2025, and his sentencing is scheduled for June 26, 2026.

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US arrests OnlyFake operator accused of selling over 10,000 AI-generated digital fake IDs

 

[yRaz]

While I'm sure there are plenty of people who would happily use this to commit fraud, I think the real kick in the nuts was all the "ID verification" laws used to "protect children"

 

[godrilla]

While I'm sure there are plenty of people who would happily use this to commit fraud, I think the real kick in the nuts was all the "ID verification" laws used to "protect children"

Or lack there of to protect democracy implying marginalized groups are too stupid for such things.

 

[Beerfloat]

Or lack there of to protect democracy implying marginalized groups are too stupid for such things.

I don't trust this administration when it comes to getting everyone's IDs furnished in a equally timely manner. They blatantly treat States and districts completely differently in accordance with partisan lean.

Cheating and all kinds of corruption are badges of honor for today's Republican party.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I don't trust this administration when it comes to getting everyone's IDs furnished in a equally timely manner. They blatantly treat States and districts completely differently in accordance with partisan lean.

Cheating and all kinds of corruption are badges of honor for today's Republican party.

This is the kind of stupid conspiracy theory you'd usually make fun of Republicans for.

Issuing IDs is a state thing BTW. And its BLUE states, not RED ones, that cant seem to figure out how to assure that minorities can get those IDs, hence why they cry its WayCiss to require them for voting.

Ironically those same states are going to be pushing harder for ID laws for using OSes ( Hi California) but cant seem to figure it out for elections. Strange that......

 

[Beerfloat]

Issuing IDs is a state thing BTW.

It doesn't make a lick of difference. Elections themselves are supposed to be state things, and yet this government is attempting to assume control over them in an unprecedented manner. Right now the federal government is suing 20 states to get access to private voter information for the national voter database that they're trying to build, using whatever underhanded means to pressure State and local officials to do as it says, legal or not. That includes utterly shameful abuse of the formerly independent Justice department. Invalidate those votes. Find me more votes instead. Cause delays at the DMV in that carefully gerrymandered district. Joke away all you want, as far as I'm concerned anybody who is not paying attention is part of the problem.

 

[godrilla]

It doesn't make a lick of difference. Elections themselves are supposed to be state things, and yet this government is attempting to assume control over them in an unprecedented manner. Right now the federal government is suing 20 states to get access to private voter information for the national voter database that they're trying to build, using whatever underhanded means to pressure State and local officials to do as it says, legal or not. That includes utterly shameful abuse of the formerly independent Justice department. Invalidate those votes. Find me more votes instead. Cause delays at the DMV in that carefully gerrymandered district. Joke away all you want, as far as I'm concerned anybody who is not paying attention is part of the problem.

According to the polls 80% are for Voter Identification though. Trump is attempting to gather data on a mass voter conspiracy that allowed Biden to Magically win 10 million votes more than Obama somehow and those votes somehow vanished last election cycle. By not having secure election doesn't matter how you spin it you are not truly for democracy only for empty virtue signals at the cost of the future of our nation.
Democrats oppose voter ID based on outliered what aboutism. Democracy used to be what majority wants now it's what the gives the most power to the democrats at any cost possible.
Eight in 10 Americans Favor Early Voting, Photo ID Laws https://share.google/zZixYz6Zij25WDkU9

 

[techstrike]

No jail for him, send him back to the battlefield.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It doesn't make a lick of difference. Elections themselves are supposed to be state things, and yet this government is attempting to assume control over them in an unprecedented manner. Right now the federal government is suing 20 states to get access to private voter information for the national voter database that they're trying to build, using whatever underhanded means to pressure State and local officials to do as it says, legal or not. That includes utterly shameful abuse of the formerly independent Justice department. Invalidate those votes. Find me more votes instead. Cause delays at the DMV in that carefully gerrymandered district. Joke away all you want, as far as I'm concerned anybody who is not paying attention is part of the problem.

It actually makes a huge difference, as evidence by you going off on a tangent when you realize it just undermined your whole "the feds wont give people their IDs because waysism" argument. Now you're rambling Sovereign Citizen style about the DMV and the Justice department and "youre part of the problem" nonsense.

 

[Beerfloat]

It actually makes a huge difference, as evidence by you going off on a tangent when you realize it just undermined your whole "the feds wont give people their IDs because waysism" argument. Now you're rambling Sovereign Citizen style about the DMV and the Justice department and "youre part of the problem" nonsense.

I did not claim the feds give out the (even the majority of) IDs anywhere, that is your tangent. My argument was the fact that many - but thankfully not all - Republicans on every level have proven quite willing to operate in bad faith to support this administration.

They've been fed, and will passionately defend, total nonsense about election fraud, and feel entirely justified to do just about anything. Targeted efforts include this use of IDs to dissuade people from voting, limiting the ways when and in which way people can put in their vote, and invalidating as many votes as possible. It's not at all, as godrilla said, about infantilizing marginal voters.

 

[godrilla]

I did not claim the feds give out the (even the majority of) IDs anywhere, that is your tangent. My argument was the fact that many - but thankfully not all - Republicans on every level have proven quite willing to operate in bad faith to support this administration.

They've been fed, and will passionately defend, total nonsense about election fraud, and feel entirely justified to do just about anything. Targeted efforts include this use of IDs to dissuade people from voting, limiting the ways when and in which way people can put in their vote, and invalidating as many votes as possible. It's not at all, as godrilla said, about infantilizing marginal voters.

No we haven't been fed anything. We are just more aware of our surroundings and are less gullible. I personally worked in Bridgeport Connecticut, where the 5 Democrats campaign workers as well as council mand and women were caught on camera stuffing and harvesting mail in voting.

My question is if you believe we are gullible then why aren't you outraged of marginalized groups not able to get, cough medicine without an ID, Controlled drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, driving, flying, shoveling snow ( needs 2 forms of ID) .
Why are we so selective on our outrage that we become vulnerable to scrutiny because of it?
Why are the voter ID for literally everything is racist but no we selective on only voting ? Because group think?

 

[Beerfloat]

No we haven't been fed anything. We are just more aware of our surroundings and are less gullible.

In your case, merely 'gullible' probably isn't the right word. Outright malicious seems more appropriate. Over 60 lawsuits from the Trump camp claiming fraud in the 2020 election. All debunked and thoroughly dismantled. It's utterly preposterous, but you don't apologize. You just keep going by the playbook. Enough.

 

[Endymio]

Over 60 lawsuits from the Trump camp claiming fraud in the 2020 election. All debunked and thoroughly dismantled

Very incorrect. The majority of these cases were thrown out on technical issues like jurisdiction and lack of standing before even a single piece of evidence was heard. Of the 22 cases that were fully adjudicated, Trump and Trump allies won 17 of them ... a fact HuffPo probably forget to tell you.

. Elections themselves are supposed to be state things, and yet this government is attempting to assume control over them in an unprecedented manner.

Wrong again. Following the 1960s Civil Rights laws, the federal government oversaw and monitored all elections in southern states for decades, and required the states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia to receive federal approval from the DOJ for any alterations to election laws, rules, or procedures.

 

[Beerfloat]

Very incorrect. The majority of these cases were thrown out on technical issues like jurisdiction and lack of standing before even a single piece of evidence was heard. Of the 22 cases that were fully adjudicated, Trump and Trump allies won 17 of them ... a fact HuffPo probably forget to tell you.

Technical issues, which were all due to the utterly sloppy work of the plaintives, and which in a considerable number of cases included actual hearings on the merits.
And if you're gonna pick some random number out of thin air and claim it's totally true, as your guy does every day, at least fabricate some evidence too. C'mon, release that Kraken. Once more for the home team.

 

[Endymio]

Technical issues, which were all due to the utterly sloppy work of the plaintives [sic]

It wasn't "sloppy attorney work" that caused a judge to absurdly claim that the Trump campaign "experienced no harm" from illegal activities that cost them votes. Nor the outlandish claim that Trump should have filed lawsuits **before** his election loss, not after, as the Wisconsin Supreme Court narrowly ruled:

Wisconsin Supreme Court tosses Trump election lawsuit

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A narrowly divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his election loss in the battleground state about an hour before the Electoral College cast Wisconsin's 10 votes for Democrat Joe Biden.

apnews.com

The case in PA was particularly egregious, in which the Democrat Sectary of State allowed Biden-majority counties to correct improperly-filed ballots, but refused to allow Trump-majority counties the same, netting Biden tens of thousands of additional votes in the state.

And if you're gonna pick some random number out of thin air and claim it's totally true

You can see the actual cases here, though this list omits at least two cases decided after it was compiled.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210208155900/http://wiseenergy.org/Energy/Election/2020_Election_Cases.htm