Mom puts 22 Candles on 19-Year-Old Daughter's Birthday Cake After Finding Her Fake ID

TikTokers are cracking up at a viral video posted to the platform by a user named Ella (@ellajoy___) who is presumably under the legal drinking limit as her folks surprised her with 22 candles on her birthday cake.

Their reason for doing so? They found Ella's fake ID, which falsely lists her age as 22 (classic move, always go a single year up). The TikToker's horrified reaction can be seen in the video, but in case that wasn't effectively communicated through her body language, she really expresses how she feels in a caption, "I cant see im blinnddddddd."

A woman, who is probably Ella's mother in the clip laughs after her daughter's reaction: Ella covers her face which quickly turns red after she's presented with the cake. Decorating the celebratory dessert is a little stand that holds what looks like the fake ID, which is probably what made her blush so much.

Despite the fact that getting caught with a fake is probably every young kid's nightmare, especially by their parents, it appears like everyone in the room took the discovery in stride. In a follow-up video, Ella posted herself wearing a pink top with a caption that reads: "19 going on 22."

Several commenters in the follow-up video asked if her parents gave the fake ID back, but it doesn't appear as if Ella responded.

In the original clip, other TikTok users loved Ella's parent's response to finding the fake. "This is the definition of a good relationship with your family," one commenter wrote.

Others agreed, "this relationship, with your parents, is PRICELESS"

"At least they can make a joke out of it This is honestly the best parents"

While Ella may have lost her fake ID, her folks did seem to break to news to hear in a nice way that she was busted, but they didn't belabor the point or make her feel small or shamed for getting one.

Counterfeit IDs are big, big business. Depending on the quality of the identification card one receives and what you're attempting to use the ID for, they vary wildly in pricing: folks can pay hundreds of dollars for one and if you're the secret agent, jet-setting espionage, participating-in-skulduggery type, then a good fake is probably created by someone with access to official government systems and those kind of fakes will run you a lot higher.

One of the most common reasons young folks acquire fake IDs, however, is so that they can gain access into establishments that serve alcohol, as the legal drinking age in the USA is 21-years-old. Throngs of youngsters dying to be packed into a crowded establishment with blaring music and sweaty human beings screaming till they're hoarse need a decent fake to experience this.

Of course, a good fake could also be used to purchase alcohol at stores. Whatever the reason folks are buying fake IDs, according to ID scan, it's a fairly common purchase, despite its illegality. ID Scan reports that in a survey of 1,738 high school students, 12.5% reported that they were in possession of a fake ID at some point.

7.5% of those said that they had used the ID within the past month of conducting the survey. Looking at even larger sample sizes also indicates just how big the fake ID market is: in 2020 one single fraudulent ID card bust yielded over 14,000 different fakes in Ohio alone.

A November 2019 USA Today story also reported that authorities managed to confiscate approximately 5,000 fake ID cards along with other "counterfeit documents" that were collectively valued at an estimated $95 million.