Identity fraud is the use by one person of another person's personal information, without authorization, to commit a crime or to deceive or defraud that other person or a third person. Most identity fraud is committed in the context of financial advantages, such as accessing a victim's credit card, bank or loan accounts. False or forged identity documents have been used in criminal activity or in dealings with government agencies, such as immigration. Often today, the identities of real persons are used in the preparation of these false documents. A person's personal information may be surreptitiously obtained, commonly described as identity theft, in a variety of ways. A fraudster may use another person's basic personal details to access the victim's online accounts, including banking accounts, email, and social media accounts. Such access may be for the purpose of obtaining further personal information on the target. More seriously, the information may then be used in truly fraudulent activities, such as opening a credit card account in the victim's name and then charging purchases to that account, or the entering into a loan agreement in the victim's name. Identity fraud may be committed without identity theft, as in the case of the fraudster being given someone's personal information for other reasons but uses it to commit fraud, or when the person whose identity is being used is colluding with the person committing the fraud. There have been numerous cases of organisations being hacked to obtain personal information. One case of identity theft was the 2011 hacking of the PlayStation Network, when personal and credit card information of 77 million accounts were stolen. The unauthorized use of a stolen credit card is commonly not considered identity fraud, but may be considered consumer fraud. The use of fake names, ID cards, falsified or forged documents, and lying about his or her own age to simply "hide" his or her true identity is sometimes also regarded as identity fraud. Reasons for this type of identity fraud may include wanting to purchase tobacco or alcohol as a minor as well as to continue playing on a certain sports team or organization when that person is really too old to compete.
Identity theft
Identity fraud is the act of using a stolen identity to obtain goods or services by deception. This usually involves the use of stolen, forged or counterfeit documents such as a passport or driving licence. The term 'goods or services' typically includes bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards, rail products, an application for a job or simply dishonest claims for state benefits.
Europe
Denmark
In October 2017, the Danish Immigration Service rejected over 600 asylum applications because the applicants had lied about their identity in order to achieve preferential treatment.
Norway
Family reunification
In 1999, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration started to use blood testing on Somalis who applied for family reunification with parents, the tests showed that 1 out of 4 lied about the family ties. The tests were later changed to DNA tests to verify family ties. The leader of a Somali community organization in Norway and the Norwegian Medical Association protested the tests and wished they would be discontinued. In 2010, UDI started DNA-tests on Somali childless couples who applied for family reunification where one spouse already resided in Norway. The results showed that 40% of such pairs were siblings. As the tests became widely known, the ratio dropped to 25% and the tests were widened to migrants from other regions.
Country of origin
In 2015, investigations by authorities showed that some Somalis who had claimed to be refugees from the civil wars in Somalia, were in fact residents of countries neighboring Somalia. Several of those along with their offspring lost their Norwegian citizenships.
Germany
Islamist terrorist Anas Amri used 14 different identies during his stay in Germany before using a truck to run over visitors to a Christmas market in Berlin Breitscheidplatz 19 December 2016. An institute of forensic medicine in Münster determined the age of 594 of unaccompanied minors in 2019 and found that 234 were likely 18 years or older and would, therefore, be processed as adults by authorities. The sample was predominantly males from Afghanistan, Guinea, Algeria and Eritrea.
Sweden
After an asylum seeker from Morocco was arrested for having kicked a 16-year-old man in the head, it was found he had used eight different identities when in contact with authorities. His age had been adjusted from 17 when he arrived to 24.
Synthetic identity fraud
Synthetic identities are fake identities that combine fake information with actual ID data. For example, combining a real social security number along with a fake address and other synthetic data points. The fraudster can then use the fake identity to acquire driver's licenses, passports and other real ID as well as credit cards and other accounts. It is estimated that synthetic ID fraud accounts for 80% of all credit card fraud losses, and will soar 44% between 2014 and 2018, rising from $5 billion in annual losses to a projected $8 billion.
Children and identity theft
It is estimated that the identity of between 140,000 and 400,000 children are used fraudulently every year. A child's identity is uniquely desirable to identity thieves. Steve Toporoff, an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, says that while there is a feeling among industry insiders that child identity theft is a major problem, it is very difficult to quantify because, in most instances, people have no clue that they are victims until years after the fact.
Organized crime
False identities are often used by organized crime to access goods and services or to participate in money laundering. Importantly a large proportion of identity fraud is linked to people trafficking, money laundering, drug running and terrorism. Information and UK Fraud Prevention Services highlights the financial impact of identity fraud but takes no account of the distress caused to the tens of thousands of people and companies that fall prey to this form of large organized crime.
