FBI Opens New Orleans Investigation Into Massive Driver’s License Theft Tied to IDScan.net Breach

POLICY WIRE — New Orleans, United States — The FBI’s New Orleans field office has opened an official investigation into a large-scale breach involving stolen digital scans of more than 153 million American and Canadian driver’s licenses.

The probe follows investigative reporting by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, who identified a dark web marketplace called Nexus selling the compromised ID images—many bearing timestamps linked to real-world transactions at Hertz rental locations and Planet13 marijuana dispensaries.

Krebs traced the source to IDScan.net, a New Orleans-based identity verification firm that processes over 21 million verifications monthly across 20,000+ international sites; the company confirmed it is investigating the incident but declined further comment.

Nexus appeared on the Russian cybercrime forum Exploit, where it offered Krebs’ own Virginia driver’s license as a free sample—and claimed its data came from an active breach at “a major identity verification company,” later identified as IDScan.net.

Of 12 individuals Krebs asked permission to search on Nexus, nine had matching driver’s licenses—including security researcher Zach Edwards, whose ID was scanned during a Las Vegas visit to Planet13, and Krebs himself, who had rented a vehicle from Hertz.

Hertz and Planet13 are both confirmed customers of IDScan.net, which uses ID scanning technology for age and identity verification; Krebs reported that FBI cyber division leaders joined a conference call with him on September 1 to confirm the New Orleans investigation had been formally opened earlier that day.

The Nexus service disappeared from the dark web shortly after Krebs published his findings on September 1; he also noted the site was selling driver’s license data belonging to an FBI assistant director, though he did not specify which official.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)