Thursday, May 28, 2009
New Types of Credit Fraud
Investigators are finding that credit fraud is happening in some new ways. In Sacramento, CA one man was found to have "created" unused Social Security numbers. For people who had poor credit, he would sell them one of these numbers and associates at a furniture dealer would create credit histories for them so they could now obtain new loans.
In related news, people who are victims of identity theft are finding that their chances of a loss are increasing. In 2007 only 15 percent of the victims saw unauthorized charges on their debit or credit cards. In 2008, 39 percent saw fraudulent charges.
The Identity Theft Resource Center monitors the effects of identity theft and recently published a report on this.
The most common use of an identity theft victims name is to open new credit accounts. This happens in approximately two-thirds of the cases. Consumers trying to repair the damage of identity theft pay on average $739 for photocopies, police reports, travel and similar expenses, to $951 when they have an existing account with fraudulent transactions. Hours taken to handle all of this ranges from 58 when dealing with cases involving current accounts of theirs, and 165 hours when new credit was opened in the victims name.
The majority of victims discover their identity has been stolen when they receive a billing statement and see the charges, or a discrepancy on a credit report was discovered. About one-third find out they are a victim when a collection agency calls them or they are denied credit.
More information and the report is available on the Identity Theft Resource Center website.
Investigators are finding that credit fraud is happening in some new ways. In Sacramento, CA one man was found to have "created" unused Social Security numbers. For people who had poor credit, he would sell them one of these numbers and associates at a furniture dealer would create credit histories for them so they could now obtain new loans.
In related news, people who are victims of identity theft are finding that their chances of a loss are increasing. In 2007 only 15 percent of the victims saw unauthorized charges on their debit or credit cards. In 2008, 39 percent saw fraudulent charges.
The Identity Theft Resource Center monitors the effects of identity theft and recently published a report on this.
The most common use of an identity theft victims name is to open new credit accounts. This happens in approximately two-thirds of the cases. Consumers trying to repair the damage of identity theft pay on average $739 for photocopies, police reports, travel and similar expenses, to $951 when they have an existing account with fraudulent transactions. Hours taken to handle all of this ranges from 58 when dealing with cases involving current accounts of theirs, and 165 hours when new credit was opened in the victims name.
The majority of victims discover their identity has been stolen when they receive a billing statement and see the charges, or a discrepancy on a credit report was discovered. About one-third find out they are a victim when a collection agency calls them or they are denied credit.
More information and the report is available on the Identity Theft Resource Center website.
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