Start here by situation
| Your situation | Go to |
|---|---|
| An ad offers a license with no test | Can you buy a driver's license? |
| You have a text about a fine or suspension | Fake DMV text messages |
| You need the official site for your state | Driver's license by state |
| You are looking at a card that may be fake | Fake driver's licenses and IDs |
| You already paid or sent ID photos | I paid a scammer |
The guides
Can you buy a driver's license?
The pillar guide. Explains why no seller can deliver a real license, the three things that are actually sold, the federal ceilings under 18 U.S.C. 1028 and two documented DMV bribery cases.
Fake driver's licenses and IDs
What counterfeits are, why checks defeat them, and what federal law says about making, transferring and using one.
Fake DMV text messages
The unpaid-fine and suspension texts, what California and Georgia say, and what to do if you clicked. Based on the FBI's IC3 warning on road toll texts.
Driver's license by state
The agency and website for all 50 states and DC, with the spot checks we made and a note on states where licensing and registration are separate.
Getting a license the legal way
What a real application looks like, using California's published process, and how to tell it from a reseller's pitch.
REAL ID
The star on the card, documents states ask for, the $45 TSA ConfirmID option, and how look-alike sites trade on the deadline.
International Driving Permits
Only AAA and AATA issue them. Fees, validity, and the signs of a site that is not authorized.
CDL schools and test fraud
Federal bribery cases, the Training Provider Registry rule and how to check a school. Rule status on non-domiciled CDLs is marked unverified.
Related
For passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates, immigration forms and nursing diplomas, see the documents hub. For the statutes, see federal law, and to report a scam see where to report.
What ties these guides together is that every real service has an official address, and the scams count on the search results not showing it first. In our check on October 5, 2026, the top five results for a search about buying a license online were state agency sites, so the official route is often one click away when you use the right words.
How the guides fit together
The pillar guide explains the offer. The fake-ID and text-scam guides cover the two ways people meet it, a card or a message. The directory, the lawful-route guide and the REAL ID guide give the official path, and the CDL and permit guides handle the two licenses where a school or a look-alike site stands between you and the agency. The legal ceilings quoted in all of them come from one place, the federal law page, so a figure never differs from page to page.
What the state-by-state picture means
There are 54 entries in the USA.gov directory, and rules differ across them. Fees, wait times, what can be done online and which agency issues the license are set locally. The guides here describe what is common and what is federal; the directory is where state differences are handled. California is used as a worked example because its published steps were opened in full.
The order to read in
- If you are not sure what is real, start with the pillar guide on buying a license.
- If you have a message or a card in front of you, go to the text or fake-card guides.
- If you need a license, a REAL ID or a permit, go to the directory and the legal-route guides.
- If you already paid, go to the victim page first and read the rest later.