Citizens and fraudsters are printing their own identification cards, which they use to receive money transfers, carry out banking transactions, and potentially cast votes in upcoming elections
Jean had gone several times to the National Identification Office (ONI) to request a reprint of his national ID card, which had been taken by bandits during a robbery in 2022.
After nearly a year without this essential document, the young man in his twenties, from Croix-des-Bouquets, made a radical and illegal decision: he designed his card using computer software and slipped a thousand gourdes to a friend to have it printed.
That fake ID card worked with MonCash services.
So much so that Jean, who requested anonymity out of fear of legal repercussions, found himself a new activity: he now engages in the making and printing of national ID cards for acquaintances.
This practice is spreading in a context of insecurity, where people intercepted without their ID risk being killed, while the ONI often delays issuing or reprinting the document.
For this article, AyiboPost spoke with half a dozen people aware of or involved in the practice, including an ONI official. They help shed light on the danger posed by the striking resemblance of the fake cards to the official documents.
On August 5, 2025, an AyiboPost journalist contacted an individual from Cap-Haïtien known for producing fake IDs, to order one. The man on the other end of the line accepted the job and asked for the identity details needed to print the card. The journalist, however, did not carry the process through to the end.
In reality, the genuine card contains an electronic chip that can be read in certain contexts by handheld devices, but the vast majority of institutions in the country use no technological means to verify the validity of the ID presented by users.
In 2023, Jean made a fake ID card for a friend whose MonCash account, registered under his brother’s name who had left the country, was blocked with 10,000 gourdes. The friend had made several unsuccessful attempts with Digicel to unblock the account and recover his money. Finally, the falsified card made by Jean allowed the account to be unblocked and the funds withdrawn at the Turgeau service center.
These fake documents are therefore accepted by banks and transfer services, and could be massively used during the next elections to vote in the name of dead or living citizens whose names appear on the electoral lists, according to testimonies gathered by AyiboPost.
It is uncertain whether the Provisional Electoral Council will establish a rigorous technical process to verify IDs at polling stations. AyiboPost contacted the CEP. This article will be updated if a response is received.
Ordinary citizens, such as Isa Landy Auguste, have found themselves victims of the illegal printing of fake national IDs across the country.
Auguste, who emigrated to the United States, discovered in December 2022 that someone had stolen her identity to create a fake Facebook profile and extort money in her name.
The scammer used a fake ID card containing the young woman’s information to receive money transfers from victims, notably through MonCash.
At Auguste’s initiative, investigators in Haiti and the United States, with the support of the Departmental Section of the Judicial Police (SDPJ) in Hinche, identified and arrested the fraudster in May 2025, according to one of the investigators interviewed by AyiboPost.
The ONI, which provides the electoral lists and issues the cards, is aware of the problem.
The institution has already received several complaints from citizens about strangers who had fabricated fake IDs using their unique national identification number, says its technical director, Reynaldo Camilus, contacted by AyiboPost.
Many of the fake cards carry the same number, and their holders sometimes use them to obtain a passport.
It is when they present themselves at the Haitian Immigration Office to request a passport that officials reveal to them that another person already holds their national identification number, explains Camilus.
To address this problem, a portal intended for state institutions has been set up on the DELIDOC platform, where citizens can check their cards and ensure—before going to immigration—whether or not anomalies concerning them exist, according to Camilus.
According to him, fake cards remain easy to detect, “because they are made of PVC, printed with ink, and feature characters generated by Photoshop.”
The vast majority of banks and transfer services have no procedures or technological devices to authenticate the national ID cards presented by clients. This leaves criminals free rein to print fake cards in the names of their victims.
Contacted in July by AyiboPost about withdrawals made with fake IDs, a MonCash service official confirmed that efforts were underway with the authorities regarding ID authentication. He refused to say more due to “confidentiality agreements.”
Beyond fraudulent financial transactions, it is on the electoral level that the use of fake IDs risks causing the most damage.
The first round of the last presidential election, held in October 2015, was canceled in June 2016 after widespread accusations of massive fraud, particularly linked to zombie votes—ballots cast in the names of nonexistent or deceased voters.
This episode illustrates a broader trend: for decades, many elections in Haiti have been contested, their legitimacy weakened by suspicions of manipulation and structural flaws in the electoral system.
History may repeat itself, since several thousand citizens have died in recent years, and most of those deaths were never officially reported.
Thus, the names of many deceased citizens still appear on the electoral rolls in a country where voter turnout hovers around 20%.
In an article published by AyiboPost in 2023, the head of the CEP, Max Délices, said that “an audit and cleanup of the electoral roll” was “desirable.” But part of the international community and Haiti’s donors oppose such a measure, according to AyiboPost’s investigation.
It was in 2017 that President Jovenel Moïse signed a bill establishing the CINU, to replace the old ID card.
The president entrusted the project to the German firm Dermalog, despite two unfavorable opinions issued by the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSCCA).
The CINU requires, for its production, the holder’s biometric data, such as iris scans, fingerprints, and biographical information, among others.
Any institution can make occasional authentication requests to the ONI, Camilus points out.
“Institutions can [also] verify the authenticity of an ID card using a UV light, which reveals all the integrated security elements.”
Ultraviolet light (“UV light” in English) is a device that emits ultraviolet rays capable—in the case of an ID card—of revealing security features invisible under normal light.
An AyiboPost investigation, published in May 2025, showed that some ID cards, already damaged shortly after their issuance, prevented their holders from accessing banking services—pushing some to turn to counterfeiting, due to ONI’s slowness in reprinting cards.
Contacted by AyiboPost, Director Camilus revealed that the ONI had already alerted the German firm Dermalog about the poor quality of the cards. “At the same time, the institution is beginning to consult other companies capable of supplying better-quality polycarbonate,” he concludes.
By : Junior Legrand
Cover : A man’s hand holding a card. Source: Freepik. Photo of an ID card. Source: ONI. Collage: Florentz Charles for AyiboPost.
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