Memphis license scam targets immigrants

MEMPHIS, July 13 (UPI) -- A Memphis police officer says individuals and companies operating in the city are scamming immigrants by offering bogus international driver's licenses.

Patrolman Edgardo Solero said he finds the fake licenses in the possession of 60 percent of the Hispanic drivers he stops, The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal reported Monday.

"And they're under the impression that those licenses are good," Solero added. "Because that's what they're being led to believe."

Solero said the document has no value as a form of official identification.

"When they get these licenses done, they could have given any name," he said. "It's a business, and it's an illegal business."

Memphis FBI spokesman C.M. Sturgis said the fake licenses, which sell for up to $100, are even being sold by immigrants.

"People with the same heritage are victimizing one another, and it's not right and it's not fair," Sturgis told The Commercial Appeal.

The newspaper said since Memphis police do not deal in immigration law enforcement, authorities in Nashville are working with federal immigration authorities on the issue.