The Legal and Financial Dangers Of Synthetic Identity Theft
Identity fraud is one of the most common types of financial crimes affecting South Africans, and now cybercriminals have raised their game with a new wave of crime known as synthetic identity theft.
Fraudsters are going a step further and combining stolen information from multiple people to create new fictitious identities that may not be real – but the consequences of your personal data being used to make one certainly are.
Here’s an overview of this new crime, what its modus operandi looks like, and how you can keep yourself safe from it while protecting your business and customer information too.
How synthetic identity fraud works
Identity theft always begins with criminals obtaining sensitive information like your ID number full name, employment information and physical address. But lately, crimes in which this information has been merged across multiple victims is becoming more common. These crimes fall into two broad categories.
- Identity compilation: This is referred to by industry experts as “Frankenstein identity fraud”. Criminals will often combine the identification numbers, addresses, and other details of multiple victims to create a new false persona.
- Identity manipulation: this criminal approach sticks to one identity, but alters key information about the person in order to carry out illicit activities. Changing someone’s place of employment or credit score artificially or applying for credit in their name are some examples of identity manipulation.
Synthetic identity makes law enforcement’s job even harder
Keeping tabs on all the fake identities used by fraudsters is hard enough but synthetic identity fraud is adding a new layer of difficulty to the task before law enforcement officials.
Since fake identities, compiled using information pertaining to multiple people, are becoming more commonplace, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to track down the various victims of this crime so that justice can be done.
Given the large number of data leaks and breaches that are taking place across the country, many law abiding citizens are finding themselves in the crosshairs of identity theft. The fact that their identity has been compromised becomes apparent once they receive a letter of demand or even a summons pertaining to debt that they have no memory of owing. This is a tell-tale sign that identity fraud has taken place.
Keep your identity and personal information safe with secure storage
There’s no need to become a victim of identity theft before you start to secure your sensitive documents.
Soteria’s range of encrypted automated backup packages will help ensure that your business and personal documents remain safe in the cloud, beyond the reach of cybercriminals. Browse our packages today to get started.