Synthetic identity fraud on the rise 

Synthetic identity fraud, which is the fabrication of a new or false identity and exploits the victim’s absence to make the fraud seem “invisible.”

“Synthetic identity fraud is a significant and growing problem as fraudsters continue to find new ways to commit crimes despite technological advances,” said Dr. Stephen Coggeshall, chief analytics and science officer, ID Analytics, in a press release. “Our latest research in this area shows that although the number of synthetic identities is decreasing, the riskiness of those synthetic identities is on the rise.”

To scale the risk of enterprises, account applications in the financial services and wireless industries were examined over a three-year period and determine the size of the synthetic identity pool.

Fraudsters use this advantage for financial gain, nurturing the synthetic identity in order to generate larger credit limits. This paves way for larger loss amounts than an average identity theft.

The study also notes that another factor leading to the increased risk is the proliferation and availability of identity information due to a rise in the number of data breaches.