Identity Fraud: New Techniques Respond to New Technologies

Banks are facing bigger and bigger challenges to ensure new accounts are actually legitimate. Once fraudsters create an account under a false identity, it can be very difficult to stop before its too late. To make it more difficult, online applications and online account opening give fraudsters the upper hand in manipulating their identities.

From the American Banker, ID fraud is back with a vengeance!

The opening of fake accounts using stolen or made-up (aka synthetic) identities more than doubled in 2015, according to a Javelin Strategy & Research report. Crooks stole the identities of, or appropriated personal information from, 1.5 million consumers — up from 700,000 in 2014 — to create fraudulent checking, credit card, loan and other accounts.

Positive industry developments in the US involve the EMV chip card.  For example, identity thieves are now forced to “upgrade” from simple fake card creation to “Frankensteining” identities from different stolen documents and account information. Additionally, ID Analytics are a way to help correlate history on an account along with other accounts for that identity.

Identity thieves are also bringing that same zeal to check fraud, essentially using the check as a weak link within the process because many banks are using old technology. OrboGraph’s Sereno system uses two types of approaches: transaction analytics, blended with image-based detection for on-us and deposit fraud scenarios. The combination of the two help address certain ID theft scenarios which include counterfeits, forgeries and alterations of checks.

Check out our check fraud prevention link for more information so your organization can stay ahead of the “fraud curve”!