What is it? Synthetic fraud uses fake personally identifiable information (PII) to create new credit profiles, pump up credit scores and use them to get goods and services

By Kim, Terje rudschinat grønli_ Fraudsters TABLE OF CONTENTS

 **COPYRIGHT** **PROTECTION…………………………………………………………………..3** **FRAUDSTERS…………………………………………………………………………….4** Getting     Your    Personal Information…………………………………………………………..4 Using     Your    Personal Information…………………………………………………………….5 Synthetic     identity fraud………………………………………………………………………..6 How to entity information ……………………………… Synthetic identity the perfect crime, the ghost in the credit file, cnp new credit file use new phone new address , a new chance………..8 How  to  avoid   (or     minimize)   identity theft……………………………………………………...8 Advertiser-Disclosure……………………………………………………………………..9 **Kim Terje rudschinat grønli © 2018** **COPYRIGHT PROTECTION** All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. 


**FRAUDSTERS** 


**_Synthetic identity_ fraud is the new _elephant_**​** in **the room**—a problem that is rising to epic **proportions but** that many have yet **to acknowledge**,” …**


 The way the identity theft fraudsters use your personal information, they could lead you to complete financial ruin. This is why you need to be very alert that your personal information is not misused by anyone. Your intentions are good, but stealing your personal information to impersonate you is not very difficult, as most people are quite a careless about how they care for their personal data. No wonder, identity theft happens to be a crime with the fastest rate of growth!


 **Getting Your Personal Information **The fraudsters first need to lay their hands on your personal information before they can use it. Here are some of the ways they can go about it. Though you may not realize it, your personal information is available everywhere for those who would like to obtain it. Clerks who work in the various government and private agencies have legitimate access to your personal data. Information can be obtained from these sources, either by bribing the employees, by conning the records of them or by stealing the records. Your mailbox is the most vulnerable place. If not emptied regularly and daily, it may contain bank statements or statements of your account from the credit card companies. These are a virtual gold mine for the identity theft fraudsters. Your wallet may be taken off you. You may not think much of it, but your wallet contains a 'lode' of information for the criminal mind. If you are one of the many who carries all their credit cards in their wallets, stop immediately. Carry only the one you need for the transactions on that particular day. Another way how your credit card information reaches the identity theft fraudsters is through 'skimming.' Skimming takes just a single swipe, as much time as a legitimate credit card swipe takes. It could happen anywhere, in a restaurant, at the shopping mall, even when buying your tickets at a theater. Be alert when you pass on your credit card for a transaction, ensuring that only a single swipe of your card is made. Fraudsters may arrange to have your legitimate mail from your banks and credit card companies diverted to a new address, simply by filling an address change form! If you stop receiving your regular statements from your bank and credit cards companies, contact them immediately. 


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**Using Your Personal Information **The fraudsters have arranged to divert your legitimate bills to a different address. They can obtain new credit cards, and then run up huge bills on them. You will not be aware of this as you will not be receiving your bills. By the time you find out, you are neck deep in trouble. Identity theft fraudsters can open new bank accounts in your name, and write bad checks; take loans in your name and buy a car, failing to pay the installments; obtain a driving license in your name, give your name during an accident, fail to attend the court hearings, and a warrant of arrest will be issued in your name!


 **Synthetic identity fraud **


**What is it? Synthetic fraud uses fake personally identifiable information (PII) to create new credit profiles, pump up credit scores and use them to get goods and services. **


**There are many faces to this crime, but it started out originally as a tool to help out poor people. Synthetic fraud began in poor communities in the U.S. where people with terrible credit couldn’t afford to purchase goods and services they needed.  It was marketed as a credit profile number (CPN).  They were told they could legally use a CPN in place of their Social Security number (SSN) and apply for credit.** **Once popular in those areas, it was noticed by fly-by-night credit repair companies which began selling CPNs and tradelines as a means for people to fix their credit. It was only a matter of time before organized criminal elements noticed the potential. They co-opted synthetic identity fraud, refined it, and brought an efficiency and criminal expertise to it that hadn’t been seen before.**

when cybercriminals use either a combination of real and fake information – such as child’s Social Security number, along with a false name, address, and date of birth or entirely false information to create a new “individual.” 

ihe bad guys then will open up new credit cards or auto loans under the fake person’s name,

and ultimately run up big piles of debt, which they don’t pay off. If they’ve used your Social Security number or that of a loved one, you could spend months trying to untangle the mess. You’re “going to be dealing with the consequences for a very long time,” says Kevin King, director of product marketing for ID Analytics, which provides credit and fraud risk solutions. With a hacked Social Security number, it’s off to the dark web A big part of the problem, King says, is that in 2011, the Social Security Administration changed the way it issues Social Security numbers. In the past, Social Security numbers were assigned systematically, with the first five numbers linked to the geographic area where you were born. But since June 2011, the numbers have been assigned randomly, making it impossible to detect if a Social Security number is legitimate or not. Once synthetic identity thieves get an adult’s Social Security number (Equifax says hackers may have accessed personal information, including SSNs, of 143 million people) and use that to apply for credit, creditors would find “a wealth of history around it,” King says. If the fraudsters get their hands on a child’s Social Security number, the stakes are much higher – with a theft payoff potentially much richer. Kids are fantastic targets for synthetic identity fraudsters, says Ian Breeze, a product manager with the fraud protection company Easy Solutions. “There are no inherent checks or balances.” The synthetic identity might not be discovered until years down the road when the child is old enough to apply for credit on their own. “Then the unraveling takes place,” Breeze says. “There are no shortages of dark web marketplaces to monetize breached records.”

Synthetic identity fraud cost: $6 billion in 2016 Credit application fraud using synthetic identities is responsible for 5 percent of charged-off accounts and up to 20 percent of credit losses – a total loss of $6 billion last year – according to Auriemma Consulting Group. That total is higher when store credit cards are considered, along with other products such as auto loans. “It’s clear that a significant portion of accounts in collections exhibit synthetic characteristics,” Ira Goldman, director of ACG’s Synthetic Identity Fraud Working Group and Credit Operations Roundtable, said in a news release. A recent study for Equifax found 9 percent of credit card application fraud can be blamed on synthetic identities, says Daniel Jean, associate vice president of U.S. identity and fraud at the credit bureau Equifax. (News of the Equifax data breach broke after much of this story was reported.) A study for ID Analytics in late 2015 found that 7 million people reported their Social Security numbers had been breached in the previous 12 months. That was 63 percent more than the previous year. Of the 7 million stolen numbers, 1.2 million belonged to children. Many of the numbers stolen from children probably came from data breaches at the health insurer Anthem, as well as from breaches at the Georgia Department of Community.