Meet Max
Max needs money. He has been drowning in credit card loans. His mortgage is overdue. He has a massive gambling debt, and his family knows nothing about it. He wakes up everyday, kisses his wife and continues to pretend like everything is fine.
Recently he came across an article on the internet that might be his saving grace.
He reads about synthetic identity; a new trend, it entails creating fake identities and hitching them to a part of a person that is real. These identities are grounded to social security numbers, addresses, date of births and other personal information while the remaining parts of the identities are fabricated.
Max has read that if a genuine social security number is used, the banks don’t double check that the identities match. He could gain access to credit that he may ultimately not need to repay.
It’s a long shot, but he has nothing to lose.
The process
Max starts out by creating fake social media profiles for his new persona and developing a business for him. He adds friends and businesses to the accounts and interacts with them, legitimizing the new person.
Then he walks into the bank with the new identity and creates an account.
It proves to be easier than he expects. After a few months of adding a history to the account, he decides to apply for a line of credit. The bank approves. Max gets the money he needs to pay off his credit cards, mortgage and gabling debt. Then, he disappears.
The Result
The bank is unable to track him down. They don’t really know who he is. There is no one left to repay the credit. The company is the victim of the ultimate crime.
The social security number that was used, turned out to be one of a child. Thus the reason why it wasn’t flagged in the system. It was real. As real as something that is fake could be. This is when the bank discovers that many companies in recent years have been victims to this new type of identity theft.
They had not been prepared for it, and luckily for them, it only cost them a few millions.
This new trend in synthetic identity theft has led to billions of dollars being stolen from these financial institutions. By not verifying the identities of the individuals, they opened up the opportunity to be taken advantage of and lost billions of dollars in the process.
*Disclaimer: Stories are based on real life situations, however names and details have been changed.