153 Million Driver's Licenses for Sale? FBI Investigates Massive Dark-Web Identity Database
Sep 06, 2026
September 2026 — Cybercrime / Data Breach
The FBI is investigating what could become one of the largest exposures of government-issued identity documents ever discovered in North America.
A newly launched dark-web identity-theft service called Nexus claims to have obtained digital scans of more than 153 million driver's licenses belonging primarily to people in the United States and Canada.
And this may not simply be another old database being recycled on underground forums.
153 Million Licenses — And Counting
Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs discovered Nexus after the service was advertised on a Russian-language cybercrime forum.
There was an unusual detail in the advertisement: the operators were reportedly using Krebs's own Virginia driver's license as a free sample.
According to the figures displayed by Nexus, its database contained:
More than 153 million driver's licenses
More than 10 million other identification cards
More than 3 million travel documents and international IDs
At least 579,000 medical cards
Krebs checked the database with several people whose documents appeared in it. Nine people confirmed that the licenses shown were genuine.
This May Have Been an Active Data Leak
One of the most concerning discoveries was that the database appeared to be growing in real time.
Krebs reported that the number of driver's-license records increased by nearly 400,000 in just 24 hours.
That raises the possibility that Nexus wasn't merely selling a previously stolen database. Instead, information may have been continuously entering the criminal service from an active compromise.
The exact source has not yet been conclusively established.
Krebs's investigation identified connections pointing toward Louisiana-based identity-verification provider IDScan.net, which said it was investigating the matter. Reuters independently reported that it could not establish the source of the stolen data.
The FBI subsequently confirmed that it was looking into the incident.Why This Breach Is Different.
Driver's-license scans can be considerably more dangerous than a leaked email address or password.
A high-quality identity-document leak can potentially assist criminals attempting identity theft, fraudulent account creation, financial fraud or abuse of identity-verification systems.
Some Nexus records reportedly contained images of both sides of licenses and, in certain cases, additional scans produced using infrared and ultraviolet light.
The incident therefore highlights an uncomfortable weakness in modern identity verification:
The more companies that collect and store copies of our identification documents, the more valuable those databases become to attackers.
Nexus Suddenly Disappears
There was another interesting development.
Shortly after Krebs published his investigation, the Nexus dark-web service went offline. Its login page was replaced with a message stating that the service was no longer available.
Whether the disappearance is temporary, an exit by the operators, or connected to the rapidly developing law-enforcement investigation remains unclear.
For now, the FBI investigation continues — and perhaps the biggest unanswered question remains:
Where did more than 153 million identity documents actually come from?
The FBI is investigating what could become one of the largest exposures of government-issued identity documents ever discovered in North America.
A newly launched dark-web identity-theft service called Nexus claims to have obtained digital scans of more than 153 million driver's licenses belonging primarily to people in the United States and Canada.
And this may not simply be another old database being recycled on underground forums.
153 Million Licenses — And Counting
Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs discovered Nexus after the service was advertised on a Russian-language cybercrime forum.
There was an unusual detail in the advertisement: the operators were reportedly using Krebs's own Virginia driver's license as a free sample.
According to the figures displayed by Nexus, its database contained:
More than 153 million driver's licenses
More than 10 million other identification cards
More than 3 million travel documents and international IDs
At least 579,000 medical cards
Krebs checked the database with several people whose documents appeared in it. Nine people confirmed that the licenses shown were genuine.
This May Have Been an Active Data Leak
One of the most concerning discoveries was that the database appeared to be growing in real time.
Krebs reported that the number of driver's-license records increased by nearly 400,000 in just 24 hours.
That raises the possibility that Nexus wasn't merely selling a previously stolen database. Instead, information may have been continuously entering the criminal service from an active compromise.
The exact source has not yet been conclusively established.
Krebs's investigation identified connections pointing toward Louisiana-based identity-verification provider IDScan.net, which said it was investigating the matter. Reuters independently reported that it could not establish the source of the stolen data.
The FBI subsequently confirmed that it was looking into the incident.Why This Breach Is Different.
Driver's-license scans can be considerably more dangerous than a leaked email address or password.
A high-quality identity-document leak can potentially assist criminals attempting identity theft, fraudulent account creation, financial fraud or abuse of identity-verification systems.
Some Nexus records reportedly contained images of both sides of licenses and, in certain cases, additional scans produced using infrared and ultraviolet light.
The incident therefore highlights an uncomfortable weakness in modern identity verification:
The more companies that collect and store copies of our identification documents, the more valuable those databases become to attackers.
Nexus Suddenly Disappears
There was another interesting development.
Shortly after Krebs published his investigation, the Nexus dark-web service went offline. Its login page was replaced with a message stating that the service was no longer available.
Whether the disappearance is temporary, an exit by the operators, or connected to the rapidly developing law-enforcement investigation remains unclear.
For now, the FBI investigation continues — and perhaps the biggest unanswered question remains:
Where did more than 153 million identity documents actually come from?