BUSINESS MEMO: ONLINE: FAKE IDs

On sale online: Fake passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates, driver's licenses, college diplomas, press credentials and even IDs for police officers and FBI agents. They're fraudulent but authentic-looking enough to enable users to steal people's identities, get loans or convince enemies they're being arrested.

You can buy them online, or you can make them yourself. A 23-year-old convicted felon told a Senate panel Friday how he created phony documents using a computer at a public library and public government records online. He used the bogus documents to get $59,000 in car loans.

The new and growing Internet phenomenon accounts for about 30 percent of all fake ID documents in this country, according to some law enforcement officials.