Ukrainian man on trial in US for creating website with 10,000 fake IDs
In the United States, 27-year-old Ukrainian citizen Yurii Nazarenko pleaded guilty to creating and administering the OnlyFake website, through which more than 10,000 fake IDs were sold.
This was reported by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, according to Censor.NET.
Accusations
According to the investigation, between 2021 and 2024, Nazarenko ran the OnlyFake online platform, which offered customers the creation of digital copies of passports, driver's licenses, and US social security cards, as well as documents from other countries.
Customers could choose the format of the forgery—either a scan of the document or a photograph of the "real" document, supposedly taken on a table or other surface. Payment was made in cryptocurrency. In addition, the service offered discounts for bulk orders.
What is the threat?
The prosecutor's office noted that the website had generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue during its operation. In total, at least 10,000 fake documents were created. These forgeries allowed users to bypass identity verification procedures at banks and cryptocurrency exchanges and could be used for money laundering.
- Nazarenko pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit document fraud. The maximum penalty under this article is up to 15 years in prison. He also agreed to the confiscation of $1.2 million in income received from the OnlyFake platform.
His sentence is to be announced on June 26, 2026.
