China, Pennsylvania causing problems for some Boston bars and liquor stores

When the guy picked out several bottles of vodka and rum at Bradley's Liquors on Boylston Street and gave manager Steven Steinberg his Pennsylvania driver's license, Steinberg compared the photo to the guy's face, saw it looked just like him, then ran the license through a scanner designed to detect fakes. When the machine said the ID was real, Steinberg took his money and let him walk out - right into a pair of Boston detectives, who quickly determined the guy was not, in fact, 21.

Steinberg's lawyer, Stephen Miller, told the Boston Licensing Board this morning Steinberg was the latest student-ghetto victim of Chinese companies that now churn out fake US driver's licenses so realistic they come with embedded microchips able to fool some of the scanners used by local bars and liquor stores to keep kids from getting their hands on booze. For $200 or so, a student with a longing for liquor can get a license that even has his or her picture - no more relying on older sibling's IDs.

Newer scanners can detect made-in-China IDs, but relatively few places have them yet - and they cost $3,500 apiece.

Pennsylvania licenses seem particularly vulnerable, Miller said.

Steinberg told the Boston Licensing Board this morning the kid's ID checked out - the scanner said it was OK. Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said this shows why license holders can't just rely on technology - they have to try to size up the person with an ID by giving him the eye and asking questions. Steinberg said he did that - the difference this time was that the photo wasn't a near match - it was the kid's actual photo. "It was him," he said. "It was his picture, it was his face."

Boston detectives were doing inspections along Boylston in the Fenway following the Dropkick Murphy's concert at Fenway Park that night.

Bradley's attorney, Stephen Miller, said the store has since purchased one of the newer devices and now requires two forms of ID from all customers, not just ones with possibly suspicious IDs.

Last week, Miller's partner, Dennis Quilty, said the same thing happened at Punter's Pub on Huntington Avenue, where he said owner Steve Newman was fooled as well by Chinese fakes. "It's amazing. They're so good with the holograms, it's just unbelievable."

In that case, Newman got off with a warning from the board, which means he will only get in trouble if he gets caught again. Newman also purchased one of the newer scanners.

Ferrer, however, said she is concerned that because of the cost, bars and liquor stores are only buying one device. What happens, she asked, if the machine breaks?

Meanwhile, some license holders continue to get snared by students using the old fashioned method of obtaining a drink - using somebody else's license. Gordon's, at the Packard's Corner Shaw's, got in trouble because of a BU student who used somebody else's license - and who was stopped on Comm. Ave. by a detective who thought she seemed to be hurrying away from the store rather quickly with a 30-pack of Natty Ice. Although Det. William Gallagher said a quick eyeballing of the license convinced him it didn't show the young woman, the store manager said that, aside from the hair style, the woman on the license looked just like the woman he sold the beer to.

Symphony 8 on Westland Avenue, meanwhile, was done in by two women who presented licenses with birthdates 11 months apart, which by itself might not have been enough to prove anything, except they told a detective doing a spot check that they were twins.

The board votes Thursday whether to take any action against Bradley's, Gordon's and Symphony 8.