The FBI opened an investigation into a dark web service offering digital scans of over 153 million drivers licenses from the United States and Canada. The service launched this week and sells access to the stolen identity documents.
Interviews with affected individuals indicate the stolen images originated from an identity verification company based in Louisiana. The compromised data appears to have been siphoned from this widely-used service, which handles identity verification for numerous organizations.
The New Orleans FBI field office initiated the official inquiry following discovery of the breach. Law enforcement has not yet disclosed how the identity verification company's systems were compromised or when the theft occurred.
The scope of the breach is substantial. With over 153 million driver's license scans now available for purchase on dark web marketplaces, victims face elevated risk of identity theft, fraudulent credit applications, and account takeovers. Bad actors can use the digital images for account creation, loan fraud, and other crimes that exploit personal identity information.
The incident underscores growing risks in the identity verification industry, where companies store sensitive government-issued identification documents at scale. A breach at a single vendor exposes millions of individuals simultaneously.
Investigation details remain limited as the FBI's probe is ongoing. The bureau has not released specifics about the investigation timeline, suspected access methods, or whether additional dark web markets are distributing the same dataset.