Synthetic Identity Fraud: Unmasking New Forms of Cybercrime
Synthetic Identity Fraud: Unmasking New Forms of Cybercrime – Delve into the world of synthetic identity fraud, exploring its definition, techniques employed, and the far-reaching implications it has on our society.
If you keep up with all of the identity theft news today like we do, then you’ve likely heard all there is when it comes to ways criminals are using identity theft for illicit purposes. Today though, as the rate of cybersecurity issues continues to increase, criminals are devising even more new methods to exploit vulnerabilities and they’re straight out of a fictional storybook.
In order to defraud unsuspecting victims, they’re now using a tactic called “synthetic identity fraud.” This is where they create fictional identities and combine the false details with facts they’ve stolen to deceive financial institutions, businesses, and individuals.
The sophisticated cybercrime technique uses social security numbers, names, and dates of birth and mixes it with fictional information they’ve made. This creates a seemingly legitimate persona that they can use to open credit cards then, get loans and do other transactions they usually wouldn’t be able to do with all false or all stolen info. only.
The mix of real and false details makes it challenging for authorities to pinpoint what has happened delaying defense against this evolving threat.
To further conceal the fraud they will usually use the information from children or deceased individuals and then make fictitious names, addresses, employment histories, and credit profiles.
They’ll also use a gradual process of “credit building” by opening small lines of credit and making timely payments to establish a positive credit history and then begin their larger attacks by gaining access to greater funds or even working with corrupt insiders to facilitate their illicit activities.
What’s at risk with synthetic identity fraud is even more than financial losses, it also lessens the effectiveness of identity verification systems and creates a significant threat to our financial ecosystem.
In order to mitigate the risk we must not only raise awareness about this cybercrime, but implement robust safeguards, one which we are proud to offer to customers: paper shredding.
Proper document disposal acts as a vital line of defense in the fight against this pervasive cybercrime.
Discarding sensitive documents without proper destruction exposes individuals and businesses to significant risks. Fraudsters can sift through dumpsters to find the information they need. By partnering with reputable paper shredding services, individuals and organizations can ensure that confidential documents are securely destroyed, rendering them unreadable and significantly reducing the chances of identity theft or the creation of synthetic identities based on discarded information.
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