Claim: You can avoid paying for traffic tickets or establish a new identity by obtaining an International Driver's License.
Example:[Collected on the Internet, 2000]
INTERNATIONAL DRIVER'S LICENSE
Need a new driver's license?
Too many points or other trouble?
Want a license that can never be suspended or revoked?
Want ID for nightclubs or hotel check-in?
Avoid tickets, fines, and mandatory driver's education.
Protect your privacy, and hide your identity.
The United Nations gave you the privilege to drive freely throughout the world! (Convention on International Road Traffic of September 19, 1949 & World Court Decision, The Hague, Netherlands, January 21, 1958)
Take advantage of your rights. Order a valid International Driver's License that can never be suspended or revoked.
Confidentiality assured.
CALL NOW!!!
Origins: This is a scam that works on multiple levels. In short:
International Driving Permits do exist.
The people advertising them are not authorized to sell them. (They're peddling similar-looking but unofficial and unauthorized documents.)
An International Driving Permit will not help you to avoid paying for traffic tickets, keep points off your driving record, establish a new identify, or get you into bars if you're underage.
An International Driving Permit (not an "International Driver's License," which is what most of the scam ads claim to be peddling) is essentially a booklet containing translations of the information found on your "real" driver's license into
eleven different languages (including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, German, Arabic, Italian, and Portuguese). In accordance with several United Nations conventions on road safety, most U.N. member nations have agreed to recognize and accept IDPs. (Some countries require foreign drivers to have IDPs, some prefer but don't require them, and some don't require them at all.) The IDP is not a license in itself, however — it is merely a translation of your existing driver's license, and it must be used in conjunction with your existing driver's license. (That is, if you are stopped by law enforcement while driving in another country, they will expect to see both your IDP and your "real" license.) You cannot obtain an IDP if you do not already hold a valid driver's license. Moreover, only two organizations are authorized by the State Department to sell IDPs in the United States: the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (through the National Automobile Club). Anyone else who attempts to sell you any type of international driver's license or permit is peddling worthless imitation documents (or, at best, is offering to charge you an exorbitant fee for walking you through the paperwork — an IDP takes but a few minutes to obtain and costs only $10).
Let's go back through the claims in the advertisement:
Need a new driver's license?
As explained above, an IDP is not a "new" driver's license. You must already hold a valid driver's license to obtain one, and an IDP is used in conjunction with (not in place of) your existing license.
Too many points or other trouble?
An IDP will not allow you to avoid points against your driver's license. Any points assessed against you for traffic violations would be applied to your "real" license.
Want a license that can never be suspended or revoked?
Your IDP is valid only as long as you hold a valid driver's license; if your license is suspended or revoked, your IDP is no longer good. As well, IDPs are valid for one year only.
Want ID for nightclubs or hotel check-in?
It's unlikely anyone (in the USA, at least) would accept an IDP as a valid form of identification; in any case, there's no real advantage to it since the IDP contains all the same information as your driver's license. You can't obtain a IDP using a different name than the one on your driver's license, for example, nor can a 16-year-old purchase an IDP that proclaims him to be 21 years old.
Avoid tickets, fines, and mandatory driver's education.
As noted above, this isn't true. Any tickets or fines assessed against you for traffic violations would be applied to your standard driver's license, not your IDP.
Protect your privacy, and hide your identity.
Nope, still not true. The IDP contains the same name, address, and other identifying information as your standard driver's license.
Confidentiality assured.
No doubt it is. Publicizing the names of the victims you've just fleeced is bad for business.
Additional information:
International Driving Permits FAQ (AAA)
Ads for International Drivers' Licenses Could Be a Dead End (Federal Trade Commission)
Last updated: 6 January 2008
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/license.asp
eleven different languages (including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, German, Arabic, Italian, and Portuguese). In accordance with several United Nations conventions on road safety, most U.N. member nations have agreed to recognize and accept IDPs. (Some countries require foreign drivers to have IDPs, some prefer but don't require them, and some don't require them at all.) The IDP is not a license in itself, however — it is merely a translation of your existing driver's license, and it must be used in conjunction with your existing driver's license. (That is, if you are stopped by law enforcement while driving in another country, they will expect to see both your IDP and your "real" license.) You cannot obtain an IDP if you do not already hold a valid driver's license. Moreover, only two organizations are authorized by the State Department to sell IDPs in the United States: the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (through the National Automobile Club). Anyone else who attempts to sell you any type of international driver's license or permit is peddling worthless imitation documents (or, at best, is offering to charge you an exorbitant fee for walking you through the paperwork — an IDP takes but a few minutes to obtain and costs only $10).
Sources:
