The simple truth is that the web hosting industry is the target of, and host (pun intended?) to, a large percentage of individuals who attempt to perpetrate identity theft. This is an unfortunate situation, but sadly people often attempt to purchase web-hosting with fraudulent credit cards and other stolen credentials. Generally the motivating factor in using a stolen identity to purchase hosting involve things like warez or other copyrighted materials such as music and movies, or for spamming or phishing purposes; none of which HostGator tolerates on our network.
The efforts of our Pending Department prevent upwards of 6,000 fraudulent sign-ups each month. One of the means used to prevent such sign-ups is a request to provide us with a copy of a government-issued identification card. In that we are a global company with Customers in virtually every non-embargoed nation in the world, we are dealing with countless types of identification cards. Sometimes, they are genuine. Other times, not so much. Below are a few of the more interesting responses we’ve received to our request for the aforementioned identification cards. These images are exactly as we received then, save for the black boxes covering the personal information of those who did not actually intend to sign up for web hosting.
This unfortunate gentleman appears to suffer from some type of carnival funhouse mirror condition… or perhaps an inability to properly use the crop and resize functions of Photoshop. He may, or may not, be named Megan:
Obviously a fake, but what is most concerning is his mouth and nose seem to be fading out of existence. Never mind his height being listed as “7.2”:
What may not be clearly visible in this image is the text under the picture, which says “See How Cute Is The New Addition To Our Family.” Also note “Restrictions: Must Wear Diaper”:
Moving right along, to “Lara” here, who was apparently born in 2009 and has a rather unique height of “19”:
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you “Batman Bin Suparman,” from Singapore:
We’ve also had a few notable individuals attempt to sign up for hosting. You may be familiar with Mr. Brendan Frasier:
Here’s “Connie,” from Delaware, whom vaguely resembles Brad Pitt. I’m not too certain the relevance of including Graduation Celebration instructions on an ID, but I digress:
The lovely and talented Keira Knightley. I was under the impression that she was from the UK, but apparently she’s actually from Florida. Obviously a conscientious individual who cares about her fellow man, being an organ donor and all:
Agent Mulder, surely desiring to create a site involving aliens. The truth is out there, and so forth:
The grand finale is a two-parter. This individual sent in not only their “ID,” but also a picture of themselves holding the ID, to further prove their identity. So, initially we received this:
Followed shortly thereafter by:
All of the above were clearly failed attempts to Jedi Mind-Trick us. Fortunately, The Force is strong within The Gator!
