I
Imposter Investigations
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Financial identity theft
A classic example of credit-dependent financial crime (bank fraud) occurs
when a criminal obtains a loan from a financial institution by impersonating
someone else. The criminal pretends to be the victim by presenting an
accurate name, address, birth date, or other information that the lender
requires as a means of establishing identity. Even if this information is
checked against the data at a national credit-rating service, the lender
will encounter no concerns, as all of the victim's information matches the
records. The lender has no easy way to discover that the person is
pretending to be the victim, especially if an original, government-issued id
can't be verified (as is the case in online, mail, telephone, and fax-based
transactions). This kind of crime is considered non-self-revealing, although
authorities may be able to track down the criminal if the funds for the loan
were mailed to them. The criminal keeps the money from the loan, the
financial institution is never repaid, and the victim is wrongly blamed for
defaulting on a loan s/he never authorized.
In most cases the financial identity theft will be reported to the national
Consumer credit reporting agency or Credit bureaus(US) as a collection or
bad loan under the impersonated person's record. This person may discover
the incident by being denied a loan, by seeing the accounts or complaints
when they view their own credit history, or by being contacted by creditors
or collection agencies. The person's credit score, which affects one's
ability to acquire new loans or credit lines, will be adversely affected
until they are able to successfully dispute the complaints and have them
removed from their record.
Other forms of examples of bank fraud associated with identity theft include
"account takeovers," passing bad checks, and "busting out" a checking or
credit account with bad check, counterfeit money order, or empty ATM
envelope deposits. If withdrawals or checks are made against the
impersonated person's real accounts, that person may need to convince the
bank that the withdrawal was fraudulent or file a court case in order to
retrieve lost funds. If checks are written against fraudulently opened
checking accounts, then the person receiving the checks will suffer the
financial loss, however they might try to retrieve money from the
impersonated person by using a collection agency which would appear in the
person's credit history until they can show that it was fraud.
Identity cloning and concealment
In this situation, a criminal acquires personal identifiers, and then
impersonates someone for concealment from authorities. This may be done by a
person who wants to avoid arrest for crimes, by a person who is working
illegally in a foreign country, or by a person who is hiding from creditors
or other individuals. Unlike credit-dependent financial crimes, these issues
can be non self-revealing, continuing for an indeterminate amount of time
without being detected. The criminal might attempt to obtained fraudulent
documents or IDs consistent with the cloned identity to make the
impersonation more convincing.
Criminal identity theft
When a criminal identifies himself to police as another individual it is
sometimes referred to as "Criminal Identity Theft." In some cases the
criminal will obtain a state issued ID using stolen documents or personal
information belonging to another person, or they might simply use a fake ID.
When the criminal is arrested for a crime, they present the ID to
authorities, who place charges under the identity theft victim's name and
release the criminal. When the criminal fails to appear for his court
hearing, a warrant would be issued under the assumed name. The victim might
learn of the incident if the state suspends their own drivers license, or
through a background check performed for employment or other purposes, or in
rare cases could be arrested when stopped for a minor traffic violation.
It can be difficult for a criminal identity theft victim to clear their
record. The steps required to clear the victim's incorrect criminal record
depend on what jurisdiction the crime occurred in and whether the true
identity of the criminal can be determined. The victim might need to locate
the original arresting officers, or be fingerprinted to prove their own
identity, and may need to go to a court hearing to be cleared of the
charges. Obtaining an expungement of court records may also be required.
Authorities might permanently maintain the victim's name as an alias for the
criminal's true identity in their criminal records databases. One problem
that victims of criminal identity theft may encounter is that various data
aggregators might still have the incorrect criminal records in their
databases even after court and police records are corrected. Thus it is
possible that a future background check will return the incorrect criminal
records.
A classic example of credit-dependent financial crime (bank fraud) occurs
when a criminal obtains a loan from a financial institution by impersonating
someone else. The criminal pretends to be the victim by presenting an
accurate name, address, birth date, or other information that the lender
requires as a means of establishing identity. Even if this information is
checked against the data at a national credit-rating service, the lender
will encounter no concerns, as all of the victim's information matches the
records. The lender has no easy way to discover that the person is
pretending to be the victim, especially if an original, government-issued id
can't be verified (as is the case in online, mail, telephone, and fax-based
transactions). This kind of crime is considered non-self-revealing, although
authorities may be able to track down the criminal if the funds for the loan
were mailed to them. The criminal keeps the money from the loan, the
financial institution is never repaid, and the victim is wrongly blamed for
defaulting on a loan s/he never authorized.
In most cases the financial identity theft will be reported to the national
Consumer credit reporting agency or Credit bureaus(US) as a collection or
bad loan under the impersonated person's record. This person may discover
the incident by being denied a loan, by seeing the accounts or complaints
when they view their own credit history, or by being contacted by creditors
or collection agencies. The person's credit score, which affects one's
ability to acquire new loans or credit lines, will be adversely affected
until they are able to successfully dispute the complaints and have them
removed from their record.
Other forms of examples of bank fraud associated with identity theft include
"account takeovers," passing bad checks, and "busting out" a checking or
credit account with bad check, counterfeit money order, or empty ATM
envelope deposits. If withdrawals or checks are made against the
impersonated person's real accounts, that person may need to convince the
bank that the withdrawal was fraudulent or file a court case in order to
retrieve lost funds. If checks are written against fraudulently opened
checking accounts, then the person receiving the checks will suffer the
financial loss, however they might try to retrieve money from the
impersonated person by using a collection agency which would appear in the
person's credit history until they can show that it was fraud.
Identity cloning and concealment
In this situation, a criminal acquires personal identifiers, and then
impersonates someone for concealment from authorities. This may be done by a
person who wants to avoid arrest for crimes, by a person who is working
illegally in a foreign country, or by a person who is hiding from creditors
or other individuals. Unlike credit-dependent financial crimes, these issues
can be non self-revealing, continuing for an indeterminate amount of time
without being detected. The criminal might attempt to obtained fraudulent
documents or IDs consistent with the cloned identity to make the
impersonation more convincing.
Criminal identity theft
When a criminal identifies himself to police as another individual it is
sometimes referred to as "Criminal Identity Theft." In some cases the
criminal will obtain a state issued ID using stolen documents or personal
information belonging to another person, or they might simply use a fake ID.
When the criminal is arrested for a crime, they present the ID to
authorities, who place charges under the identity theft victim's name and
release the criminal. When the criminal fails to appear for his court
hearing, a warrant would be issued under the assumed name. The victim might
learn of the incident if the state suspends their own drivers license, or
through a background check performed for employment or other purposes, or in
rare cases could be arrested when stopped for a minor traffic violation.
It can be difficult for a criminal identity theft victim to clear their
record. The steps required to clear the victim's incorrect criminal record
depend on what jurisdiction the crime occurred in and whether the true
identity of the criminal can be determined. The victim might need to locate
the original arresting officers, or be fingerprinted to prove their own
identity, and may need to go to a court hearing to be cleared of the
charges. Obtaining an expungement of court records may also be required.
Authorities might permanently maintain the victim's name as an alias for the
criminal's true identity in their criminal records databases. One problem
that victims of criminal identity theft may encounter is that various data
aggregators might still have the incorrect criminal records in their
databases even after court and police records are corrected. Thus it is
possible that a future background check will return the incorrect criminal
records.