She Ordered a Fake Driver's Licence via Telegram — and When It Never Arrived, She Reported the Scam to Police Herself, Landing Under Investigation

Police in the Karviná region have opened an investigation against a 19-year-old woman who tried to buy a fake driver's licence through the Telegram messenger app but, after never receiving the document, reported the "scammers" to police herself — unwittingly exposing her own crime in the process.

According to Karviná police spokeswoman Nikola Bočková, officers from the Petřvald station have notified the young woman that she is suspected of forging an official document. The offence carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

The story began with a TikTok advert offering driver's licences without the hassle of driving school. Convinced by the ad, the woman transferred a total of 47,000 crowns to the seller via an encrypted Telegram channel. When the document never arrived and the seller stopped replying to messages, she decided to report the fraudsters to police — not realising that in doing so she would be confessing to her own attempted crime.

Lawyer Dagmar Raupachová says the police's response is both justified and logical. People often confuse the concepts involved, assuming that if they didn't actually receive anything, no crime was committed on their part. "The woman knowingly tried to obtain a driver's licence without taking the exams, through illegal means. That already constitutes an attempted crime," the lawyer explains, adding that an attempt is punishable under the same statute as a completed offence.

Raupachová notes that if she were defending the young woman — who has no prior convictions — she would push for leniency: the prosecutor could potentially drop the case during the investigation stage, or a court could grant a conditional discontinuation. Still, the lawyer stresses, such actions should never be taken lightly.

The Petřvald case stands in sharp contrast to another recent incident in the same region. A 40-year-old foreign national paid 150,000 crowns for a fake certificate proving she had passed the Czech language exam required for permanent residency. Unlike the young woman with the fake licence, this woman actually received the forged document — and used it at a government office.

"What sets this case apart is that the crime was actually carried out, rather than remaining at the attempted stage. There's no question of leniency here — quite the opposite. A deliberate attack on the system itself like this is extremely dangerous," Raupachová warns, adding that in cases involving an already-submitted forgery, she would take an uncompromisingly hard line.

According to the Czech Police Presidium, it's rare for someone who ordered an illegal document to then report the matter to police themselves. "It's highly unlikely that someone committing a crime would report it themselves," said police spokesperson Captain David Schön.

He pointed out that the Criminal Code (§348) also penalises simply acquiring or possessing a forged official document. And if an organised group is behind such offers — as is typically the case with Telegram schemes — the maximum sentence for the organisers rises to six years in prison.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz