A Counter–terrorist investigators busted an identity theft ring comprised of a Pakistani woman and 13 other accomplices. The group was allegedly bribing DMV employees in several states to forge documents and change information. The group was selling driver’s license, birth certificate and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants from Pakistan.

Shamsha Laiwalla, 44, has pleaded guilty to identity theft charges after offering to sell a forged driver’s license, birth certificate and Social Security card to an under cover cop who was posing as a Pakistani immigrant. She has not been connected to any known terrorist groups, but authorities believe that some of the profits of the group have been going to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant Shiite Muslim group.

The DMV workers connected to these scams have all been fired and some of them are being brought up on charges for illegally processing drivers license. One employee is being charged with illegally registering a car and still another for accessing the DMV database.

One of the group’s connections at the DMV changed information of a Criminal, removing information needed to track warrants for his arrest on the license. This would prevent an officer from knowing if someone had any warrants during a traffic stop.

Sounds like the administration at the DMV needs to keep a better eye on what is going on at their locations. It seems the DMV is a crucial point for identity thieves and some states are starting to bump up the security at their locations. I don’t know what the qualifications are to work at the DMV but I hope they choose their employees wisely. Some states have implemented a system that scans the database and people with more than one license using face recognition technology. This is a good step in the right direction we just need all states to implement systems like this.