body: In particular, were a company to require (perhaps unreasonably) a copy of some kind of government identification, such as a Driver's License, is it illegal to produce a fake digital image of an identification document?
  
  
  I have seen this answer: [Is it legal to submit fake digital identification documents to private companies?](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/5017/is-it-legal-to-submit-fake-digital-identification-documents-to-private-companies)
  
  
  But it was not clear to me what the definition of 'fake identification document' is. Would an image depicting a 'supposed' (but non-existent) identification document constitute an identification document? My understanding is that producing such an image and sending it (digitally) is not a crime. However I suspect this is incorrect and has been covered/clarified somewhere, so hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
  
  
  I do notice that the answer to the above question cites a section that refers to a definition of identification document:
  
  
  
  > 
  > (3)the term “identification document” means a document made or issued by or under the authority of the United States Government, a State, political subdivision of a State, a sponsoring entity of an event designated as a special event of national significance, a foreign government, political subdivision of a foreign government, an international governmental or an international quasi-governmental organization which, when completed with information concerning a particular individual, is of a type intended or commonly accepted for the purpose of identification of individuals;
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  And furthermore, 
  
  
  
  > 
  > (4)the term “false identification document” means a document of a type intended or commonly accepted for the purposes of identification of individuals that— (A)is not issued by or under the authority of a governmental entity or was issued under the authority of a governmental entity but was subsequently altered for purposes of deceit; and (B)appears to be issued by or under the authority of the United States Government, a State, a political subdivision of a State, a sponsoring entity of an event designated by the President as a special event of national significance, a foreign government, a political subdivision of a foreign government, or an international governmental or quasi-governmental organization;
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  I do not know much about law, so it is not clear to me whether a digital image depicting an identification document is considered an identification document; and for example, whether such an image would be "of a type intended or commonly accepted for the purposes of identification of individuals", since it is an image and not an actual identification document. For example, such an image would not be sufficient for retailers bound to verify ID (e.g. liquor), DMV and various commercial entities entrusted to issue automotive registration documents, police officers, TSA agents, CBP agents, etc; in those situations (which surely comprise the majority of the possible identification-verification scenarios), such a digital image is not "intended or commonly accepted for the purposes of identification of individuals".
  
  
  Thanks
  
  
  Edit 
  Some clarification to make this question and my motivation clearer. 
  The prototypical example (and what got me thinking of this) was a friend of mine who made a purchase of a few hundred dollars at an online clothing retailer located outside of the US. After the purchase, the retailer followed up indicating they required a scan/fax of driver's license, and some other piece of information I forgot. She did not send it (so the transaction was cancelled), since it would be inadvisable to send such a piece of information not only over email (which is likely, though not necessarily secure) and into an organization with unknown data-handling practices, in another country, etc.
  
  
  With this example in mind, I am curious as to whether it would be legal to create and submit an *image of/depicting a non-existent identification document*, to a company, perhaps such a company as I have cited. Whether this constitutes a false ID document is not clear, except for example in the case of Virginia which was highlighted by a contributor below, since Virginia considers a false 'facsimile' of the ID document to be a false ID document and therefore illegal.
  
  
  It has been claimed in the comments that this would be fraud, but I unfortunately do not know what a definitive definition of fraud would be as it applies to this situation. The definition of fraud I read is from Wikipedia: 
  
  
  
  > In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right.
  
  
  it is not clear to me whether, for example in the clothing retailer example, the individual who transmits the image depicting the non-existent ID is securing an unfair or unlawful gain. Perhaps the retailer is being deprived of a legal right, but I am not certain.
  
  
  
title: In what situations is it a crime to provide an [EDIT: Image of possibly non-existent] fake or altered US gov't ID in digital form to a company