Creator of ‘OnlyFake’ Pleads Guilty in $1.2 Million Digital ID Fraud Scheme

The creator of a website that sold more than 10,000 counterfeit digital identity documents has pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan, according to the US Department of Justice.

Key takeaways

• OnlyFake used to generate more than 10,000 counterfeit digital IDs between 2021 and 2024.
• The platform offered fake US IDs — including driver’s licenses for all 50 states, passports and Social Security cards — as well as passports from roughly 56 other countries.
• Users could choose whether documents appeared as scans or realistic photographs, increasing their potential effectiveness in bypassing online verification systems.
• The operator pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit approximately $1.2 million.

Yurii Nazarenko, 27, of Ukraine, admitted to operating “OnlyFake,” an online platform that generated and sold realistic fake government identification documents to customers around the world. 

Digital replicas 

According to court records and statements made during public proceedings, the OnlyFake website enabled users to create a wide range of counterfeit digital identity documents. 

The platform offered fabricated US identification materials, including digital replicas of driver’s licenses for all 50 states, US passports, passport cards and Social Security cards. It also offered fake digital versions of identification documents from numerous other countries, including passports from roughly 56 nations outside the United States. 

Customers were able to choose not only the type of ID but also how it would appear. Options included images designed to look like flatbed scans of official documents or staged photographs showing the ID placed on a surface, such as a table, to mimic a real-world snapshot. 

10,000 fake IDs 

Prosecutors say OnlyFake accepted payment in cryptocurrency and offered discounts on bulk orders, with packages of up to 1,000 fake IDs. 

The service ran from approximately 2021 to 2024 and received at least “hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers purchasing Digital Fake IDs,” according to the DOJ. 

OnlyFake was used to generate at least 10,000 Digital Fake IDs, the DOJ said. 

Prosecutors highlighted a specific danger: banks and cryptocurrency exchanges often rely on remote identity verification — known as Know Your Customer (KYC) checks — that allow users to upload scans or photos of ID documents. 

According to the indictment, the fake images produced by OnlyFake were good enough to potentially circumvent these safeguards, helping bad actors conceal their identity and facilitate money laundering or other crimes. 

Awaiting sentence 

Nazarenko was extradited from Romania in September 2025.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud related to identification documents and authentication features, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He agreed to forfeit approximately $1.2 million in proceeds from the scheme and is scheduled for sentencing on June 26. 

This is one of the first major criminal actions targeting the large-scale production and sale of digital fake IDs, the DOJ said. 

According to the Bitdefender 2025 Consumer Cybersecurity Survey, consumers are increasingly aware of the risks of AI-generated content, with more than a third of respondents naming the creation of deepfakes as one of their biggest concerns. 

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