Synthetic Identity Theft - Posting Twenty - Three

Synthetic identity theft happens when pieces of data from different people are mixed together to create new fraudulent identities. These synthetic identities are very hard to detect. If a fraudster steals your identity and starts impersonating you, the resulting damage to your good name can be repaired with enough time and monitoring of your credit. However, what if the criminal just taken pieces of your identity and mixes it with other people's information. For example, what if the fraudster uses your name but a different address and date of birth and then goes out and applies for a Social Security number? What you have is a completely new person with parts of your identity. This is much harder to detect and prove, making correcting the problem very difficult. There are cases out there where victims have had to repair their good name over decades.

Most of the people who have been victims of this insidious fraud just want a new Social Security number so that they can begin repairing their identity. However, this is much more difficult than it seems, The US government is reluctant to issue a new Social Security number to a person. In cases of severe identity theft, a new Social Security number can be issued however this rarely happens. In one article, which can be found on the news section of our Fraud Squad web site under Swift worker fallout: The pain behind the stolen identities, Doug Smith, senior public affairs specialist with the Social Security Administration in Denver, said it is not impossible 'to get a new number'. "But obviously, we don't, on a regular basis, use new numbers because of the volume of cross referencing."

If you are the victim of severe identity fraud likely resulting from synthetic identity theft expect to spend hours on the phone and writing emails and letters in order to get things straightened out.

The best way to avoid all of this trouble is to protect all your personal identification information and check your credit rating at least three times per year. Allowing the inappropriate release of one piece of your identity information can lead to a criminal using it to create a new identity and make your life miserable. Read the article I mentioned. It is heart wrenching.

Have you been the victim of any form of Identity Theft ? If you have an identity theft story that you would like to tell we would love to hear it. Post to my blog.