From what I understand, they are easy to obtain in ALL circles. You can order them online. There is one particular group/entity that advertises itself as the “guy” for fake IDs. Claim is their country of origin sells the printers, paper, laminating supplies, etc. to state DMVs. So the licenses they print look just the same as the states. Including a barcode that scans. Prices are $100 for two (you can get one for a friend or get two for yourself in-case the first one is confiscated). Site tells you how to order, pay and how it will be shipped.
From what I understand in talking with a few college kids (and I know of kids (never having actually seen one in person) from Ivies down to state directionals who have IDs that are not their own), using them near campus isn’t typically a problem. Bars/restaurants/stores understand that near campuses, 60-75% of the kids there are not old enough to legally drink so the increased business is viewed as a plus. Some locations near campus are more restrictive than others. Kids learn pretty quickly which ones.
Move away from campus and success will diminish. Makes sense to me as you move further from campus, age of customer base likely increases and those older customers likely don’t want to hang out with a bunch of college aged kids (under 21 or not).
Again this is just what I hear from college kids.
I always chuckle when I see/hear a parent say something to the effect that all my kids’ friends have one but not my kid. That may well be the case but seems to me the odds are against it.
I think the drinking age doesn’t make a lot of sense. Old enough to do pretty much everything but not legally have a drink. What that does is push drinking underground and makes it something of a forbidden fruit (which increases its appeal to many). Rather than having 18-20 year olds drinking openly where there can be some level of supervision (bartenders who stop serving, bouncers who call cabs, etc), they drink behind closed doors with none. And often people cite reduced drunk driving deaths, but cars are safer now and drunk driving is taken much more seriously. When I was a kid in the 70s, people joked about it. The police would just drive you home and let you sleep it off rather than a ticket, suspended license, jail time, etc.
As for the OP, I don’t really have a strong opinion. Though I can’t say I disagree with what was done. Kid as noted was in high school not college. Under parents control at that point. Not sure what I would have done. In a parking lot, I likely turn it into someone in a business/entity there. In the street in a subdivision, tougher to handle like that.