[00:00:00] A bad guy pretends to be you for various nefarious reasons.
[00:00:05] But identity theft can be a time consuming pain for the crooks.
[00:00:09] They have to stalk you or hack you or trick you to say nothing of the fact that we are
[00:00:13] getting more adept at spotting the frauds when they show up in our inboxes or online.
[00:00:18] So the crooks are also adapting.
[00:00:21] Why steal somebody's identity when you can just create your own?
[00:00:24] You make up a fake person, trick the credit bureaus and financial institutions into believing
[00:00:29] that this fake person is real.
[00:00:31] Then use that fake person to steal money from financial institutions.
[00:00:47] You're walking down the street.
[00:00:49] It's a great day and you're enjoying every moment of it.
[00:00:55] The problem is someone wants you to disappear.
[00:01:01] Now they could go the Smith & Wesson route, but instead they just steal your identity.
[00:01:06] I have no doubt that over the years you've heard a lot about identity theft.
[00:01:14] But things have changed.
[00:01:20] Which can now create synthetic identities of you.
[00:01:24] And unless you stumble across it, they may be pretending to be you for years.
[00:01:38] I'm Jim Grinstead and today I'm going to update you on what's new in traditional identity
[00:01:43] theft but I'll focus on a relatively new form.
[00:01:48] Synthetic identities.
[00:01:50] You'll learn how they're created and why you should watch out for them.
[00:01:55] And don't worry, I'll tell you how to do that as well.
[00:02:00] Traditional identity theft happens when someone gathers enough information about you that
[00:02:05] they can apply for credit cards, take out an auto loan and maybe access your bank account.
[00:02:11] If that happens it can take years to untangle.
[00:02:15] At least 17 different people have my ID.
[00:02:18] 17?
[00:02:19] At least.
[00:02:20] There's a guy in California right now that is using it at a bar.
[00:02:24] People are learning money using Tony's identity but not paying enough taxes.
[00:02:28] The IRS seizing his bank accounts and dumping him with huge bills.
[00:02:32] This one's for 9,000.
[00:02:34] Here's one for 25,000.
[00:02:35] That was 16.
[00:02:37] Here's one for 11.
[00:02:38] That actually almost 12.
[00:02:40] And they want all this money right away.
[00:02:42] This is a nightmare.
[00:02:43] Yeah.
[00:02:44] He still owes taxes on the money other people earned.
[00:02:48] But I'll get to that in a bit.
[00:02:50] That's from Arizona's ABC 15.
[00:02:53] The man's problems began when he lost his wallet with a social security card inside.
[00:02:59] All that trouble just from a social security card?
[00:03:02] You bet.
[00:03:03] Four box central security numbers.
[00:03:10] If you've ever worried about identity theft it's time you got to know LifeLock.
[00:03:15] I'm Todd Davis and I'm here to prove just how safe your identity can be with LifeLock.
[00:03:21] That's my real social security number.
[00:03:23] Anything happens for any reason while you're in client of LifeLock we will cover all losses
[00:03:29] and all expenses up to one million dollars.
[00:03:35] Have that work out for him?
[00:03:37] Not well.
[00:03:38] The Phoenix New Times says his identity was stolen 13 times.
[00:03:43] The first incident happened when someone tried to take out a $500 loan.
[00:03:48] In the other breaches, a Verizon account had an unpaid bill of at least $186.
[00:03:54] Centerpoint Energy showed a delinquency of $122.
[00:03:59] Credit One Bank was owed $573 and the gift basket company Swiss Colony was owed $312.
[00:04:08] LifeLock has since been purchased by Symantec which sells Norton computer security products.
[00:04:14] LifeLock had other problems before the purchase but I won't go into those now.
[00:04:19] These problems I'm a summer guy.
[00:04:22] I'll be on the porch enjoying a cool drink and reading.
[00:04:26] It doesn't get any better unless someone else does the cooking.
[00:04:30] I'm not going to spend the day in fresh air only to eat processed foods.
[00:04:34] If I'm not eating fresh I'm wasting one of the best seasons of the year.
[00:04:39] Fortunately Factor comes to my rescue.
[00:04:43] They send fresh meals to me that can be cooked up in minutes.
[00:04:46] I can go back to the porch with a great meal and enjoy the sunset.
[00:04:51] I'm not into program diets.
[00:04:53] I like to chef's choice meals but if I wanted keto, protein, vegan or anything else they
[00:05:01] can provide it.
[00:05:03] Premium meals could include steak, shrimp, broccolini or asparagus.
[00:05:08] The meals come prepped and are customizable.
[00:05:11] You can get add-ons for breakfast, lunch or snacks.
[00:05:15] And when I head out on vacation Factor will pause my surface until I get back.
[00:05:20] Plus I love to grill so I can choose one of Factor's meals during the week and fire
[00:05:25] up the charcoal on weekends.
[00:05:28] Be good to yourself.
[00:05:30] Enjoy the warm weather.
[00:05:31] Great foods from Factor along with some money saving discounts I'm about to tell
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[00:05:36] Get to FactorMeals.com slash scamsincons50 and use code SCAMSINCONS50 to get 50% off your
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[00:06:02] Even in the aughts using old school techniques like dumpster diving for credit card applications
[00:06:07] or just stealing mail from your front porch.
[00:06:18] These days there's no need to get your hands dirty unless you're eating a candy bar while
[00:06:22] working on your computer's keyboard.
[00:06:25] You can get catfished by fake claims that your computer has been hacked, that friend
[00:06:29] or relative is stranded and needs money to get home or convince someone in another
[00:06:34] country that you're deeply in love with them but need some cash to help out
[00:06:38] a sick family member.
[00:06:43] The well-tilted new way to steal you is to create a synthetic identity.
[00:06:51] It's a bit complicated but I'll step you through it.
[00:06:54] Then we'll hear from people who want to teach others how to do it and how to acquire
[00:06:58] the information needed to make it happen.
[00:07:01] I do not recommend that you take notes on this.
[00:07:04] It's illegal and can get you into big time trouble.
[00:07:08] Plus unless you're working with somebody who really knows how to make it work
[00:07:12] the feds will beat your door fairly quickly.
[00:07:16] However done right scammers hit thousands of people at a time.
[00:07:26] First a scammer needs some authentic personal information from you.
[00:07:30] The social security number is great but credit card information,
[00:07:34] bank account information and similar data can be used.
[00:07:38] The rest of the stuff like name, address, telephone numbers
[00:07:41] can just be made up.
[00:07:43] You can use real information but making it up is just fine.
[00:07:48] Next you need a credit history for this synthetic person.
[00:07:51] Since you've just created them there isn't a history so let's make one shall we?
[00:08:13] The first step is to take out some small loans and pay them back.
[00:08:17] Open a bank account.
[00:08:19] If you can get a credit card from some place who doesn't need to do a
[00:08:22] credit check.
[00:08:27] You need to establish a presence in the banking system.
[00:08:30] After doing this for some time you'll look like a credit worthy citizen.
[00:08:37] Armed with that credit worthiness you begin maxing out credit cards,
[00:08:42] getting loans or whatever else you can do to milk that identity for all its worth.
[00:08:46] A new car would be nice.
[00:08:48] Use it to drive away from that synthetic identity and leave the person
[00:08:52] whose details you stole and all the people who gave out loans to sort
[00:08:56] it out.
[00:09:03] As you rightly suspect it's not quite that easy.
[00:09:07] One of the things you'll need for your synthetic identity is a CPN.
[00:09:11] The credit reporting company, Experian says that a CPN is a nine digit number
[00:09:18] that's formatted just like a social security number.
[00:09:22] It may also be called a credit privacy number, credit profile number or
[00:09:26] credit protection number.
[00:09:28] Companies that sell CPNs to consumers market them as a way to hide bad
[00:09:33] credit histories or bankruptcy.
[00:09:36] Experian should talk but we'll get to it's dirty laundry in a bit.
[00:09:44] Here's a guy to explain part of it and he constantly reminds us that his
[00:09:48] video is for informational purposes only.
[00:09:51] I've slowed his speech because he talks fast.
[00:09:54] I mean really fast.
[00:09:55] Things have changed a little bit guys but the fundamental thing that has
[00:09:58] changed with the process of CPNs is the fact that you guys can't cut
[00:10:02] corners as much as you guys usually do.
[00:10:04] A lot of people were cutting corners with CPNs creating them really
[00:10:07] quickly and then using them to liquidate really fast and that's still
[00:10:10] the thing.
[00:10:11] People can still do that but the thing is it's not as easy as it used to
[00:10:14] be to do that process.
[00:10:16] Once again guys this educational purpose is only so let's get into the
[00:10:18] video.
[00:10:19] So creating a number, so creating a CPN number when someone wants to
[00:10:21] create their CP number they often visit a website like you should
[00:10:25] steer clear of that number.
[00:10:27] So basically if it says verify then that means somebody is using
[00:10:30] that number so you don't want it to use a number that is already
[00:10:32] being used because that means even if they let you create that
[00:10:36] number eventually down the line you will run into the issue of
[00:10:39] the profiles emerging and then that creates an issue with the
[00:10:42] profile because obviously that someone is that someone's actual
[00:10:45] SSN number and it can create an issue for you and make the whole
[00:10:48] profile just basically hot so we don't want to do that.
[00:10:51] So once again this educational purpose is only guys I'm just
[00:10:53] letting you guys know how this all works but if your number
[00:10:55] appears random or shows it's unissued on the s... this
[00:10:58] number can be good for seven to ten years so it's essential
[00:11:01] to make plans with that time frame in mind.
[00:11:03] Additionally there are certain number sequences that you
[00:11:05] can use in specific situations that are unlikely to be used by
[00:11:08] others you can check these numbers through and we'll provide
[00:11:11] the number sequence using this method.
[00:11:13] Yeah you heard right they don't necessarily need any of your
[00:11:16] personal information to create a fake person but it helps if
[00:11:21] they don't they have to play a long game rather than a
[00:11:24] smash and grab theft.
[00:11:26] Before creating a CP there's some things to keep in mind
[00:11:28] never use an address that you've used before or had mail
[00:11:31] come to never give your CP to law enforcement if you
[00:11:35] get pulled over that should be obvious but some people just
[00:11:37] don't use common sense so I have to say that info to be
[00:11:40] prepared so this is information you should have
[00:11:42] prepared already this is the try merging preparation things
[00:11:45] you need to be prepared a new email address emails
[00:11:47] shouldn't be attached to any of your current social security
[00:11:49] number information try to use a different company for your
[00:11:51] normal go to so if you use Google use Yahoo if you use
[00:11:54] Yahoo use use Outlook etc.
[00:11:56] New phone line preferably AT&T prepaid or Verizon
[00:11:59] prepaid you can get these things from like Target
[00:12:01] or Walmart you can get the sim kit and create that.
[00:12:04] However it's important to recognize that the more time you
[00:12:06] in effort you invest in building your profile the
[00:12:08] stronger it will become leading to a greater
[00:12:10] satisfaction with your future results when it comes to a CP
[00:12:12] timely debt repayment is crucial for profile growth.
[00:12:16] Basic try merging info so what is try merging steps
[00:12:19] taken to establish the number or social in the public
[00:12:21] record or the credit bureau so we'll end with the
[00:12:24] credit bureaus to be precise.
[00:12:26] Employment for applications this is basically
[00:12:29] information that you're going to put into your
[00:12:31] application so it's going to be management
[00:12:33] consulting engineer and come between 60 and 85k per year
[00:12:37] this information is part of the application process when
[00:12:40] try merging your number so this information is going to
[00:12:42] basically tie all the information together to create
[00:12:46] an actual credit profile for the profile so try merge
[00:12:50] housing for applications choose rent or own and cost is
[00:12:53] usually around 1100 per month some people like to put
[00:12:56] $0 per month and say they own just to make
[00:12:59] applications look better but for this specific reason
[00:13:02] we're try merging so we're not really trying to
[00:13:05] make our income look a certain way we're just trying to
[00:13:07] try merge information together so you have lived there
[00:13:10] at least five years all this information will need to
[00:13:12] be recorded these are examples only not advising
[00:13:15] you to commit fraud in any way obviously guys this
[00:13:17] is educational purposes only so let's go on so get
[00:13:20] ready to try merge so try merging fuses your
[00:13:22] profile information that should be in your notes
[00:13:24] to the credit bureaus information this process
[00:13:26] requires you to apply to three websites with
[00:13:28] this information Jim you may ask what is this try
[00:13:32] merging you just talked about I'm glad you asked
[00:13:44] let me introduce you to Barry Clue an authorised financial
[00:13:47] advisor from New Zealand and a very special kind of
[00:13:50] stain on humanity he was a very knowledgeable young guy
[00:13:54] he was a registered financial advisor type of guy that
[00:13:57] was betting over backwards to help you now you could be
[00:14:00] forgiven for thinking that Barry sounds like a great guy
[00:14:03] and you'd be right well right up until the point when you're
[00:14:06] wrong it was all bititious you stole from my son who has
[00:14:10] a disability Chris never knew he died believing
[00:14:14] that we're all taken care of a psychopath is somebody
[00:14:17] who lacks empathy acts impulsively I think there's
[00:14:20] a strong case that Barry might be all of those things
[00:14:23] actually to find out how Barry Clue stole over
[00:14:25] 15 million dollars from 81 victims subscribe to Clueless
[00:14:30] the long con that's clueless spelt K L O O G H L E S S
[00:14:55] if you've done a good job of building a credit history
[00:14:58] you can create more credit history and then I suggest you guys go to
[00:15:03] some more pre credit cards or you know self lenders things like that to add
[00:15:09] you want to start adding many trade lines as you can
[00:15:12] but authorised user trade lines are a little bit easier
[00:15:16] but they're costly unless you got a friend or family
[00:15:19] that's another gentleman interested in helping you get started
[00:15:23] and he'll coach you and even gather information for you
[00:15:26] for a price of course in fact you may end up being a good credit reference
[00:15:31] for him it gets more complicated still but
[00:15:39] I'm going to stop here because you should have a basic idea of how it
[00:15:42] works with just some of the information or a
[00:15:48] meaningless number that looks like a social security number
[00:15:51] it's possible to create a fake person if they use your data
[00:15:57] you'll be on the hook for the cost in one worst case scenario
[00:16:02] a scammer could take out a reverse mortgage on your house
[00:16:05] and draw down your equity you could protect yourself from some of this
[00:16:10] I keep a waste box into which I throw all offers for credit cards
[00:16:15] every few months I go to an office supply store and have it shredded
[00:16:19] it never goes out with the regular trash but I'm still only protecting
[00:16:30] myself from the amateurs the PBS news hour tells us how the
[00:16:34] big guys get their data major breaches in recent years at
[00:16:38] places like Target Home Depot and JP Morgan have exposed tens of
[00:16:43] millions of individuals information but Equifax's announcement
[00:16:47] yesterday might be the biggest and most significant yet
[00:16:51] one out of every two Americans stands to be a victim
[00:16:55] some 143 million consumers sensitive data
[00:17:00] is potentially compromised by a security breach
[00:17:03] at the consumer credit reporting agency oh boy this is the dirty laundry I
[00:17:08] told you about it happened in 2017 and what kind of data are we talking
[00:17:12] about here it's everything that would be in your credit
[00:17:15] report so it's social security number it's your name it's your address
[00:17:19] it's your driver's license information it's your employers it's your payment
[00:17:22] history it's what bank accounts you have it is if you were an identity
[00:17:25] thief a gold mine or the holy grail as one person
[00:17:28] described it to me the thing that a thief could do with this
[00:17:31] information is that one they could hack into your existing accounts once
[00:17:34] they have all that information at least Equifax was right on top of it and let
[00:17:38] people know about the breach immediately right
[00:17:42] they found out about this on July 29th and we only found out about this breach
[00:17:47] this week so you're supposed to in these kinds of cases
[00:17:51] immediately jump to to do something about it and they seemed like they did
[00:17:55] not give consumers much time there was a long period of time where this
[00:17:58] information might have been out there and secondly
[00:18:01] several executives at the company after they found out about the breach
[00:18:05] sold about 1.8 million dollars worth of stock
[00:18:09] in their company before this news got out the implication being they didn't
[00:18:13] want their stock to tank and their their stock to lose value and sure
[00:18:16] enough today their stock value dropped about 13 so as one person said to me
[00:18:20] today this quote-unquote stinks to high heaven
[00:18:24] it's also worth keeping in mind that we aren't the customers of these
[00:18:27] companies they get their data from banks
[00:18:31] employers credit card companies all kinds of folks who handle our personal
[00:18:35] information and need access to other people's personal
[00:18:38] information as they say if you're not the
[00:18:42] customer you're the product let me make this just a little bit
[00:18:47] worse scammers of course want money but they sometimes want other things
[00:18:53] your identity might be used to get prescriptions medical supplies or
[00:18:57] even surgeries in australia researcher chris rock dug up some
[00:19:03] interesting details here's a i voice teresa reading from
[00:19:07] an article released by kipursky a data security firm
[00:19:11] chris rock started his research after an incident when one of australia's
[00:19:15] hospitals mistakenly killed off 200 patients
[00:19:19] the idea was that if something in an electronic system occurs via accident
[00:19:23] or mistake that you can do the same manually
[00:19:27] an official indication of a person's death is called a death certificate
[00:19:32] in many countries an application for this paper can be filed online
[00:19:36] for instance in the usa they use a web service called electronic death
[00:19:41] registration system edrs to create this paper
[00:19:46] you need to log into the edrs as a doctor
[00:19:49] to register on this service you need to enter some information to verify
[00:19:53] that you are a doctor including your name license number
[00:19:58] and the address printed on your license there is another option via an online
[00:20:03] service at least in california where you can find all of this
[00:20:07] information simply put you can log into estr as a
[00:20:12] california doctor at any moment with no problems at all
[00:20:16] or you could start from the other end the inverse process creating a birth
[00:20:22] is very similar it's actually easier to give virtual birth than to make someone
[00:20:27] virtually dead firstly you don't need a funeral
[00:20:31] director secondly instead of a doctor you can
[00:20:35] log in as a midwife of course all necessary information about
[00:20:40] midwives can be found on a website there are plenty of reasons why someone
[00:20:44] would kill or give birth to another person
[00:20:47] fraud revenge or just making their lives miserable
[00:20:52] perhaps a more interesting and less obvious scenario
[00:20:56] is the creation of a completely virtual and at the same time
[00:21:00] a completely legitimate person which you could dispose of at any time later
[00:21:05] and we're back to synthetic scammers how do you protect yourself
[00:21:10] it's not easy the first step is to not leave personal information out where
[00:21:14] others can capture it all they need is to take a quick photo
[00:21:18] with the cell phone and they can review that later if someone wants your social
[00:21:23] security number ask them why hearing it's our policy or i just
[00:21:28] needed for the computer isn't good enough it could be they want to sell
[00:21:32] your data to someone else who uses your social security
[00:21:36] number to match up with other pieces of information they have
[00:21:39] and perhaps most importantly be vigilant and a little paranoid
[00:21:44] if you get a call from someone saying they're with your bank
[00:21:47] be suspicious make them verify their identity
[00:21:52] if you think it might be legitimate take their name and ask what branch they're
[00:21:56] in then look up the number yourself
[00:21:58] and ask to speak to the person if no one knows them
[00:22:02] just save yourself a lot of heartache i've skimmed the surface of what can
[00:22:07] happen to you if your identity is still in or manufactured
[00:22:11] scammers are smart and as soon as rules or technology changes
[00:22:15] they'll find a way to exploit them i'll keep you up to date
[00:22:19] and one of the best ways to stay informed is through our website
[00:22:23] scamsandcons.com where i regularly post on our blog about new scams
[00:22:34] if you enjoy the show please give us a five star rating wherever you listen
[00:22:38] you hear this all the time on other podcasts because it helps people find us
[00:22:42] and become subscribers your ratings really do make a difference
[00:22:47] and don't forget to head over to our website scamsandcons.com
[00:22:51] where you can chat with other fans and get more stories about scams
[00:22:55] many of which are going on right now i look forward to hearing what you have
[00:22:59] to say thanks for listening
[00:23:08] scamsandcons is part of the killer podcast network
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