Losses to imposter scams based on synthetic identities—identities that only exist as figments in a credit reporting bureau’s records—will rise from a reported $1.2 billion in 2020 to $2.48 billion by 2024 in the US, according to an analysis published Thursday by identity verification vendor Socure.
Synthetic identities became a common concern for businesses and financial institutions in the mid-2010s, Socure’s report said. Typically, such an identity is based on a real person, but with a slight tweak to some piece of personally identifiable information, like a different date of birth or Social Security number.
This altered identity is frequently verified by nothing more than a credit check—which means that it’s rarely detected. A fraudster can then use the identity for a wide array of purposes, including different types of loan applications and credit cards.