Motown has a new not-so-good title. ID Analytics‘ ID:A Labs has identified the metro Detroit area as one of the top areas for identity fraud. According to their research, there are over 10,000 identity fraud rings in the U.S., and the three-digit ZIP codes with the most fraud rings are around Washington DC; Tampa, FL.; Greenville, MS; Macon, GA; Detroit; and Montgomery, AL.
The credit rating bureau says an identity fraud ring is a group of people actively collaborating to commit identity fraud. Help Net Security reports this study is the first to investigate the interconnections of identity manipulators and fraudsters to identify rings of criminals working in collaboration.
While many of these fraud rings involve two or more career criminals, surprisingly, others are family members or groups of friends. The article says that ring members operate by either stealing victims’ identities or improperly sharing and manipulating personal identifying information such as dates-of-birth (DOB) and Social Security numbers (SSNs) on applications for credit and services.
Other findings of the study include:
- States with the highest numbers of fraud rings include Alabama, the Carolinas, Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas.
- While many fraud rings occur in cities, a surprisingly high number were also found in rural areas of the country.
- A large number of families are working together in fraud rings, even using each other’s SSNs and DOBs. However, rings made up of friends are more common, with the majority of fraud rings made up of members with different last names.
“In this latest research, we have taken a broader approach, looking at connections among bad people rather than studying individual activity,” Dr. Stephen Coggeshall, chief technology officer of ID Analytics said in the post. “This information enables us to build new variables into our fraud models so we can help our customers to make better decisions and improve protection for consumers.”
ID:A Labs looked at about 1.7 billion identity risk events including applications for credit cards, wireless phones, payday loans, utilities, and other financial services credit products. It also examined changes in personal identifying information among accounts such as changes in name, address, DOB, and SSN to identity over 10,000 fraud rings in the United States.
ID Analytics chart The dots show concentrations of identity theft crime rings.
Related articles
- How Common is Identity Theft? (pubcit.typepad.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.