BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Someone in Brookings could face serious charges after Customs and Border Patrol discovered 50 fake IDs on their way to the college town. And it’s not the first bust, federal authorities have confiscated 150 fake IDs headed to Brookings already this year.

Brookings police say a person living in Brookings ordered all the IDs for themselves and several underage friends so they could all buy alcohol and get into bars. They say when students return to town, there’s always an uptick in fake IDs.

“It’s always been a big problem here, but it’s gotten increasingly worse over the last few years, and not only with just fake IDs, but that translates into some of the crimes associated with it such as DUIs, vandalisms, sexual assaults, things like that,” Brookings Police Department spokesperson Jorrie Hart said

Students can also find themselves in trouble even before the ID arrives.

“They’re putting their information onto a website that’s going to an overseas company. First of all, security violation is huge as it is, but then if you think about how that affect your college, your criminal record, applying for some financial loans in the future just because of that identity-type fraud that you now have on your record,” Hart said.

The Brookings Liquor Store gives employees $50 for spotting fakes. Manage Bill Heldt says they average about two per week. Sometimes they see more.

“It kind of goes with school. When school first started here back with college starting back up, that first week was about six to seven of them,” he said.

Anytime a liquor store employee is unsure about an ID, they can consult one of these two books. One for the United States and Canada and the other for international IDs.

They may call police to verify if any ID is real, but they have their own process first.

“Looking at the IDs, feeling them, making them take them out their wallets so we check the backs of them and checking all the UV symbols on them and stuff with the UV lights,” he said.

And police want people to remember, the consequences can be much worse than just getting an ID taken away.

“It’s not just simply underage individuals purchasing alcohol, but that it really feeds into a bigger national security threat and risk, and it also helps feed into additional crimes that happen within the city,” Hart said.

Officer Hart says people caught with a fake typically face anything from community service to fines to jail time. Since this investigation is being conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, any charges would be federal.