Thieves Now Stealing Identities That Don't Even Exist

By Creativa Images @ Shutterstock.com

In what is known as “synthetic identity fraud,” thieves are now creating false identities from whole cloth, and using them to dupe lenders and credit card companies out of their money. The Justice Department says this fast growing danger is one of the hardest forms of identity crime to fight. That’s probably because no actual identity is being stolen, so there’s no immediate victim to raise a red flag on fraudulent activity.

The victims in this case end up being the lenders who cannot get their money back after sending it to a completely fictitious person. Peter Rudegeair and AnnaMaria Andriotis report for the Wall Street Journal that authorities end up chasing ghosts when synthetic identity fraud is investigated.

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E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.