The synthetic ID you can't see

Criminals are using a new form of fraud called credit privacy numbers (CPN) to defraud financial institutions and game credit bureaus. Fraud examiners will have to pool their resources and use investigative skills to connect the dots between credit bureaus and banks, and find new ways to combat this plague.

A call rings out on a police radio: “2-Charlie-34 to any available kilo unit reference a Signal 53 in progress.” In plain language, a patrol officer has just asked to speak with a detective from the economic crimes unit about a fraud in progress. A detective answers, and the officer on the scene tells him that he’s taken a man into custody at an auto dealership for attempting to purchase a vehicle and attain financing using a Social Security number (SSN) in the application that isn’t his.

The detective and his partner respond to the scene. Their initial investigation reveals that the subject has a valid state-issued ID bearing his name, which they confirm through a records check. The dealership provides the detectives a copy of the financing application and a credit report as evidence. The credit report shows that the name and date of birth match the ID and person standing in front of them. The subject’s credit score is in the high 700s, and he has multiple open accounts with varying lengths of reporting history.