60% of teens use fake ID to access adult goods and services

Research from customer age & ID verification specialists 192business is revealing that an alarming proportion of teens have easy access to adult goods & services including alcohol & tobacco.

The age and ID check specialists engaged Invenio Research to survey 300 respondents – of which 57.7 percent admitted to lying about their age using a fake ID to gain access to goods and services restricted to the over 18’s.

In further research, 192business also revealed that half of 15 year olds have bought age restricted items, such as alcohol, knives, films & video games from online retailers.

A third (33%) of 14 year olds have also been able to make purchases of this type, and nine out of ten (86%) 17 year olds said they did so without any trouble, despite still being underage. Six out of ten (60%) underage people know someone that has bought an age restricted item online and, of the children who had attempted to buy online, 90% said they were successful in doing so.

The research was commissioned to highlight the fact that the current practice of asking customers to tick a box to say that they are 18 years and over is outdated and not robust enough to deter teens from buying adult goods.

The 192business age verification service works by checking voter and credit reference databases to verify customer name, address and age during the online transaction without harming the customer experience.

“We’re calling for online retailers who sell alcohol to clean up their act and stop flouting Section 146 of the Licensing Act 2003.  Their off-trade counterparts on the high street are rigorous in their approach to challenging customers for proof-of-age and the technology exists to help sites check customer age quickly and cheaply”, said David Pope, director at 192business.

Several specialist online retailers are already using age verification services from 192business to ensure social responsibility and age related compliance.

"TheWhiskyExchange.com started out as a family business back in 1999 but has since grown to be the internet's No.1 specialist retailer of whisky and other spirits. We serve thousands of customers every week but we maintain a strict approach to age verification and use 192business to check customer age. This has helped us to conduct online business with confidence", said Jay Poudel, Ecommerce Development Manager at The Whisky Exchange.

“192business have kept us ahead of the competition in ensuring legal compliance in the sale of alcohol“, said Tim Francis, Managing Director and Founder of TheDrinkShop.com.

Find out more about 192business age verification solutions